Delicious Lobster Cakes

In Canada if you mention lobster one doesn’t think of Maine, they think of Nova Scotia The savory crustaceans is the lifeblood of the many working fishing communities there. So to commemorate the CAPS convention, Deri Latimer president elect of the Canadian Association of Professional Speakers ask me to prepare a lobster dish.

You can’t get fresh lobster in the mountains of Northeast Georgia so I had to drive to Gainesville to get some tail. Frozen lobster tails that is.

The ones they had in stock were Caribbean lobster which are like the spiny lobster you get in Florida. These warm water lobsters don’t have claws which contain the most tender meat found in the cold water crustaceans.

Since the lobster I have to work with is not fresh and since it’s not from Nova Scotia I’m going to use the lobster meat and make lobster cakes.

Those of you who saw my video on Shrimp cakes are saying, “wait a minute that’s the same dish.” No. One uses shrimp one uses lobster. And since lobster is traditionally served with drawn butter we’re going to fry the lobster cakes in butter.

But in order to do that you have to clarify the butter. Whole butter will burn and turn dark brown messing up the flavor.

To clarify the butter melt it in a small pan over a low heat. When the butter bubbles the whey protein floats to the top and the milk solids will sink to the bottom. What you have in between is pure buttery goodness that will withstand the high heat of frying.

Here’s what we’re going to use.
1 pound cut up uncooked lobster meat.
2 eggs
1 tsp salt
½ tsp pepper
1 tsp lemon zest
1/2 tsp smoked paprika –
2 tablespoons of scallions finely chopped
1 Tablespoon shallot
1 teaspoon finely chopped parsley

Add ¾ to 1 cup bread crumbs to bind the batter. I used
½ cup panko and ½ cup crushed Ritz crackers. If the batter is too moist add additional bread crumbs a little at a time to get the desired consistency.

Form paddies and fry in the clarified butter.

All you really need to do is squeeze some lemon over the cakes and garnish with some parsley.

Make these simple lobster cakes when you can’t get fresh lobster,

But since I’m in Georgia I’m going to make a simple sauce with some Hellman’s mayonnaise and some of my favorite hot sauce. Boom! That’s all it takes.