Sean Dennis wrote to Michael Loo <=-

As my Nova Scotian friend would say, "I don't understand why people
are so crazy about those bugs [lobsters]..."

I like them fine but won't pay a massive amount
extra for the privilege.

I've had lobster maybe twice in my life. Once at Red Lobster, the
other at Long John Silver's and their "lobster bites". I love
seafood but I don't like paying a lot for it either.

Lobster is OK. But, TTTT, I druther have shrimp. Lobster, as I see it,
is a triumph of marketing.

"Prices are tied directly to the supply of the animal and how much of it lobstermen are able to catch. That sounds like it should be obvious;
it's basic supply and demand. But it's unlike other American foods-corn,
wheat, beef-where there's an artificial government-imposed pricing
structure at work. That means the price of lobster can surge 18 percent
in one year, as it did in 2012. It now costs about $7.95 a pound, though
some years it costs as much as $14. For a whole family to have lobsters
at one to two pounds each, this gets very pricey very quickly.

It wasn't always like this. If today's lobster wears a top hat and an
opera cape, 80 years ago he was wearing overalls and picking up your
garbage. Lobster is a self-made creature, and quite the social climber.

Lobsters were so abundant in the early days-residents in the
Massachusetts Bay Colony found they washed up on the beach in
two-foot-high piles-that people thought of them as trash food. It was
fit only for the poor and served to servants or prisoners. In 1622, the governor of Plymouth Plantation, William Bradford, was embarrassed to
admit to newly arrived colonists that the only food they "could presente
their friends with was a lobster ... without bread or anyhting else but
a cupp of fair water" (original spelling preserved). Later, rumor has
it, some in Massachusetts revolted and the colony was forced to sign
contracts promising that indentured servants wouldn't be fed lobster
more than three times a week.

"Lobster shells about a house are looked upon as signs of poverty and degradation," wrote John J. Rowan in 1876. Lobster was an unfamiliar,
vaguely disgusting bottom feeding ocean dweller that sort of did (and
does) resemble an insect, its distant relative. The very word comes from
the Old English loppe, which means spider. People did eat lobster,
certainly, but not happily and not, usually, openly. Through the 1940s,
for instance, American customers could buy lobster meat in cans (like
spam or tuna), and it was a fairly low-priced can at that. In the 19th
century, when consumers could buy Boston baked beans for 53 cents a
pound, canned lobster sold for just 11 cents a pound. People fed lobster
to their cats.

Admittedly, lobster was cooked dead back then, like most meats, and not
live, as it is now, which is perhaps how it got so tasty."

Read more at https://psmag.com/economics/how-lobster-got-fancy-59440

An interesting choice, this Andreas Viestad.

He's a very intersesting backstory too. His show, "New Scandinavian Cooking", has been a long-time favorite on PBS. I've always enjoyed
it because, like my beloved Bob Ross, Andreas has a very relaxing, composed, easygoing persona.

My favourite way to have lobster ...

MMMMM----- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.06

Title: Lobster Cantonese
Categories: Seafood, Wine, Vegetables, Rice
Yield: 4 Servings

2 lb Lobster tails
1 cl Garlic; minced
1 ts Fermented black beans;
- rinsed, drained
2 tb Oil
1/4 lb Ground pork
1 1/2 c Hot water
1 1/2 tb Soy sauce
1 ts MSG (highly optional)
2 tb Cornstarch
3 tb Dry sherry
1 lg Egg
3 tb Water
Cilantro sprigs
Green onion curls
Hot cooked rice

For the best results in preparing this attractive
Chinese dish cook the lobster pieces as quickly as
possible. The beaten egg added to the sauce makes it
richer and creamier.

With sharp knife, pry lobster meat from shell and
slice into medallions. Mince garlic and black beans
together. Heat oil in wok or skillet and add garlic
mixture. Cook and stir a few seconds. Add pork and
cook about 10 minutes, stirring to break up meat.
Add hot water, soy sauce and MSG (if using).

Add lobster medallions and cook 2 minutes. Mix corn
starch and sherry and stir into sauce. Beat egg with
3 tablespoons water and blend into sauce. Cook over
low heat 30 seconds, stirring constantly.

Sauce should be creamy but not heavy.

Spoon sauce into center of platter.

Arrange medallions in sauce in decorative pattern.
Garnish with cilantro and green onion curls.

For each serving, place a few lobster medallions
over rice in bowl. Spoon sauce over lobster.

Recipe from: http://www.recipesource.com

Uncle Dirty Dave's Kitchen

MMMMM

... Being Norwegian: The art of doing disgusting things to fish

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