Today’s post is featuring a new recipe added to our Classic American/Soups and Sandwiches Page:
New England Lobster Rolls
(Photo Attributed to Author: Ehedaya)
To make perfect New England lobster rolls, you want to keep it simple. The succulent flavor of lobster meat is in itself what you want featured. Avoid the temptation to add much – if anything – to this simple, yet elegant recipe. Too many extra flavors can wind up overshadowing the unique and subtle flavor of the lobster salad filling. Even the use of sriracha hot sauce, if overdone, can ruin New England Lobster Rolls. You may even want to not use any hot sauce at all, but I find just a bit of it actually adds a “brightening-up” taste to the lobster. Experiment for yourself.
Note: If you are going to use fresh lobster meat, and will cook it yourself, you will need to buy four times the weight (in lobster tail form) of the amount you want to wind up with for your lobster salad. In other words, for this recipe, which calls for 1 pound of lobster meat, you would need four pounds of fresh lobster tails.
The below recipe does not take into account cooking time for the lobster, so for your convenience there is a chart below the recipe which shows how long to steam the tails.
New England Lobster Rolls Recipe-
Ingredients:
(makes 4 sandwiches)
- 1 lb. cooked New England (or Maine) lobster meat, cut into bite-sized chunks (or 4 lb. Lobster Tails, uncooked)
- ⅓ cup olive oil mayonnaise
- 2 tsp. fresh lemon juice
- ¼ cup finely chopped (inner, tender stalks) of celery
- 1 tsp. chopped fresh cilantro
- 2 tsp. minced green onions
- 4 dashes Sriracha hot sauce
- salt and pepper, to taste
- 2 tbsp. melted butter, for the salad filling
- 2 tbsp. butter, for fry-toasting the buns
- 4 unsplit hot dog buns (get large, good quality buns. I prefer potato, whole wheat, or sourdough)
- several large leaves of iceberg lettuce (optional, for a “bed” under the lobster salad filling)
Directions:
- Place the cooked and chopped lobster meat in a large mixing bowl.
- In another, smaller bowl, combine the olive oil mayonnaise, lemon juice, celery, cilantro, green onions, sriracha, melted butter, and salt and pepper. Mix together thoroughly, and then do a taste test – adjust as needed for seasoning.
- Add the seasoned mixture into the large bowl containing the cooked lobster meat and mix everything together well.
- Melt the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter in a skillet, over medium high heat. Slice the buns down the middle lengthwise, deep enough to open them up, but not cut all the way through. Now fry-toast them, cut sides open and down, until nice and golden brown.
- To assemble your sandwiches, divide the lobster salad into four equal portions. If you are going to add the bed of lettuce, (optional, personally I prefer not to, but it’s your choice), do that first. Then spoon on the lobster salad.
- Enjoy your New England Lobster Rolls right away, while nice and fresh-made.
Lobster Steaming Instructions:
1 lb – 10 minutes
1-1/4 lb. – 12 minutes
1-1/2 lb. – 14 minutes
1-3/4 lb. – 16 minutes
2 lb. – 18 minutes
2-1/2 lb. – 22 minutes
3 lb. – 25 to 30 minutes
5 lb. – 45 to 50 minutes
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I am a born and raised New Englander. There are three basic types of Lobster Rolls (Maine Style, New England Lobster Salad Roll Style and Connecticut Hot Lobster Roll Style). Connecticut is where the first Lobster Roll was invented. What is the difference between the three types? Maine Lobster Roll is very very lightly dressed with mayonnaise only (One Maine Lobster Shack serves a hybrid Lobster Roll very very lightly dressed with mayonnaise but also drizzles clarified warm unsalted butter over the finished roll). No lettuce in a Maine Style Lobster Roll. The New England Lobster Salad Roll is dragged through the garden as you have done in your recipe. Normally there is a single leaf of lettuce in this roll. The Connecticut Hot Lobster Roll is briefly sautéed in clarified unsalted butter and served warm. There is no lettuce used in this roll. All true Lobster Rolls have one thing in common, they use a New England Top Split Hot Dog Bun which the white bread sides are butter toasted or grilled.
Also, on your Hawaiian Recipe, the word “Hawaiian” is a reserved word only to be used to identify Native Indigenous people who settled Hawaii and their foods and culture. The rest of us are called residents of Hawaii. You as misusing the word in applying it to all foods in Hawaii which Native Hawaiians would not have had or growing naturally in Hawaii but was imported later which we call Hawaii Regional Cuisine which is the blending of all immigrant population ethnic cuisine together which you will only find in Hawaii. Salted cod fish, salmon, tomatoes and pineapple are examples of imported foods into Hawaii which are not native to Hawaii.
Hi Ken, and thank you for your comment and experienced information. I do my best to bring ethnic foods from all over the world to people who might otherwise not know of or be able to experience, but of course I am not native to everwhere in the world, so I recognize I may not get everything right, no matter how much I search for authenticity. I appreciate your input. 🙂
I’ve ordered this in restaurants and just love it. Glad to find a recipe to make it at home – this one looks real good!
Trust me, Donnie, it is every bit as good as you get in a fine restaurant.
Great looking sandwich! Wouldn’t a good hoagie bun work well with this? That’s what I’m going to use, lol.
Linda, absolutely, a good quality hoagie bun would be great for this lobster roll – go for it!
Sounds so refreshing and a yummy hot summer’s day meal!
Trust me, Beth, it really is!
This sounds very good. And thanks for the chart on how long to steam lobster – I see I have been cooking too long, so the meat was coming out a little too tough.
Hey Kim, you are welcome. 🙂 Now enjoy your lobster rolls with nice tender, juicy lobster meat!
Always love these in restaurants, now I can make some at home. Great recipe, thanks!
Hey Mark, you’re welcome, and enjoy!
This one will sure be a hit at our upcoming pool party for family and friends!
Yeah, Barb! Hey – am I invited? LOL 😉
I love lobster, and love sandwiches, so hey – this HAS to be a winner, huh?
Trust me, Phil!
Absolutely SCRUMPTIOUS sounding!
🙂