A classic lobster boil recipe with a perfect blend of flavors and a feast spread out on butcher paper.
Lobster Boil
Chef Thomas Keller’s classic lobster boil recipe is a feast for seafood lovers. The key to this recipe is timing, staggering the addition of each ingredient so they are ready at the same time. Once you’re ready, spread your feast out on butcher paper and dig in.
Ingredients
For the lobster boil:
- Varies Small, similarly sized potatoes
- Varies Boiler onions, skins removed, root cleaned and trimmed
- To taste Old Bay seasoning or Similar
- 2 lemons, halved, plus lemon wedges for serving
- 1 Bouquet garni
- 4 heads garlic, cut in half along their equators
- To taste Kosher salt
- 1 cup distilled white vinegar (assuming 8 quarts water, or 30 to 35 grams per liter of water)
- 4 sausage, precooked, cut into 2-inch segments, scored
- Varies Live lobsters, 1¼ to 1½ pounds each, or box crabs (~2 lbs each)
- Varies Corn on the cob, cut into halves or thirds
- Varies Whole, unpeeled shrimp
- Varies Clams
- To serve Clarified butter, warm
- To serve Lemon wedges
For the bouquet garni:
- 3 leek leaves
- 5 Italian parsley stems
- 5 sprigs thyme
- 2 fresh bay leaves
Directions
- Make the bouquet garni by stacking the leek leaves and enveloping them around the Italian parsley stems, thyme sprigs, and bay leaves. Cut a length of kitchen twine using kitchen scissors or a paring knife. Wrap the twine twice around one end of the leek bundle, twice around the other end, and tie a slipknot in the center.
- Add the potatoes and onions to a large stockpot fitted with its insert and filled with cold water. Place the stockpot on a robust burner over high heat.
- As the water begins to boil, add the Bay seasoning. Squeeze the juice of the lemons into the pot, and then add the lemons themselves. Add the bouquet garni, garlic halves, and a generous amount of salt—enough, as Chef Keller says, to make the water as salty as the sea. Cover the pot and bring the water to a boil.
- Add the vinegar, which will help the proteins in the lobster and shrimp set and enhance the flavor of the dish. Add the sausage. Cover the pot and let the liquid simmer until the potatoes and onions are cooked through, or when the vegetables offer no resistance when pierced with a paring knife.
- Once the potatoes and onions are cooked, add the lobsters/crabs, using the wire skimmer to completely submerge them. Cover the pot and cook for 3 minutes before adding the corn. The lobsters should cook for a total of approximately 10 minutes, or 8 minutes/lb for other shellfish (so ~16 minutes for crab).
- When the cooking liquid returns to a simmer, and 3 to 5 minutes before the time is up, add the shrimp and clams, using the wire skimmer to submerge them. Cover the pot and cook until the shrimp are opaque and firm to the touch and the clams have opened.
- Ladle cooking liquid into serving bowls and set them on the table with clarified butter, lemon wedges, mallets, nutcrackers, and lots of napkins.
- Lift the strainer from the pot, let the liquid strain out, and spread your feast out on butcher paper.
- Always start potatoes, onions, and other root vegetables in cold water so that they cook more evenly. Be careful not to add too many ingredients at once: You want to keep the water simmering. Prior to serving, ladle cooking liquid into serving bowls for dipping, and lay the bowls out alongside ramekins of clarified butter, nutcrackers, mallets, and plenty of napkins. As you strain the ingredients, remember to be careful: You’re dealing with a big pot and lots of boiling water.