lobster & wine

Hi Ian, How would a Cotes du Rhone fit into your take? My wife and I enjoyed this wine (for the first time) last night with Baked Halibut with Fennel and Tomatoes. For some reason (food or wine), we both thought of lobster, and before even seeing this thread, I was thinking it might make a good pairing. Any thoughts? tia

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A white Cote du Rhone would work with lobster, as would some of the more characterful Italian whites - Greco di Tufo, perhaps.

] A white Cote du Rhone would work with lobster, as would some of the more ] characterful Italian whites - Greco di Tufo, perhaps.

An aged white CdP would go nicely. How about a rich Chenin from Saumur?

BTW, second the kudos to the OP for being a gent and owning up.

-E

Hmm - a reasonably concentrated dry Chenin (Bourillon-Dorleans VV Sec, or Huet Le Mont) might do it.

I am NOT a fan of over-oaked American Chard (with or without food), but a rich old style Aussie Semillon, now......

Greetings "Ian Hoare" ......you wrote ....

"Love is never having to say you're sorry!!!!!"

Ian, I was referring *very specifically* to the way I prefer my lobster - that is sans any form of sauce; cold; with fresh salad particularly of a sunny, summers afternoon, al fresco luncheon.

This is also the way I love my [Australian] prawns - in fact I do a cold dish from a recipe I stole and modified from Antonio Carluccio - prawns, broad beans (peeled, of course) and avocado - which is *perfectly* accompanied by Palliser Sauvignon.

I totally agree with your assertion, lobster, crayfish prawns *do* have a decided element of sweetness - but within a fresh salad, this apparent sweetness is diminished.

Prepared any other way - I bow to your experience.

Bill Spohn wrote: "At an all d'Yquem dinner years ago, we paired a lobster dish with Chateau Ygrec and the 1967, I must say the '67 married better."

Many years ago I remember reading that one of the earlier owners of Yquem insisted that Yquem itself was a very good match with lobster. It was in some book discussing Yquem, probably long ot of print.

My mailbox is always full to avoid spam. To contact me, erase snipped-for-privacy@webtv.net from my email address. Then add snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com . I do not check this box every day, so post if you need a quick response.

Salut/Hi st.helier,

le/on Thu, 30 Sep 2004 09:37:01 +1200, tu disais/you said:-

Well, in your case, M'lord, it ought to read "never hesitating to say you're sorry!!" Ain't that right, Kathryn?

AND. much more importantly, to south sea "lobsters", crawfish - or spiny lobster. They have quite a different taste, less intense, IMO than "proper" lobsters from cold North Atlantic bugs. (I don't know what Vancouver bugs taste like, though I have every intention of finding out "real soon now".

I can imagine.

Actually our taste is alike in this, as I make sandwiches for lunch sometimes with prawns, avocado a tomatoed/paprika'd/garlic'd mayo dressing in Jacquie's home made brown bread with sunflower seeds. To die for, and wonderful with a NZ sauvignon blanc.

Thanks for your generosity, I omitted to point out (quite a silly admission) that the preparation method makes quite a difference. My own personal preference if eating REALLY fresh top class lobsters (not spiny) is plain grilled with melted butter. THEN a Meursault, with that nuttiness bringing out the nuttiness of the slightly over heated butter is simply magic.

OK, in reading the responses, I don't see any recommendations for anything "bubbly" (correct me if I'm wrong). For us, steamed lobster tails are a traditional "at home" dinner every Valentine's Day. The "bubbles" or "Champagne" consumed totally depends on what's left in the budget after purchasing the lobster tails.

BTW: Lots of drawn butter!

Getting hungry, Dick

Sorry Dick, but in this case you are wrong. After the more traditional Chard rec, I went with a NV Champagne. I do agree with you that it is a good accompaniment to lobster.

Dang, we got a lot of good wine related mileage out of a spam post, didn't we. And I, like you will probably go out and get a few tails to throw on the grille this weekend. After reading the posts with recs for Semillon, I got to thinking about a few bottles of Jos Phelps Marssane that I still have in the cellar. As I'm not a big fan of Sem (except when in Ch d'Yquem, of course), I need to expand a bit and try some OZ Sem with the tails. I hope the grille doesn't muck the profile up too much.

Hunt

The mention of prawns started me thinking about the firm, sweet flesh of northern Australian mud crabs...

wn

Hey Hunt, I must admit your first comment "Sorry Dick, but in this case you are wrong." was alarming - until I read the rest of your post. Yes, many wines are probably good with lobster, but I still prefer "bubbles".

BTW: In my area of the USA (Minnesota) the price of cold water lobster is totally out of sight. We usually settle for the warm water variety, which is still pretty darn expensive. Maybe that's why we only eat it once a year. :-)

But, with all this talk, maybe we'll have lobster very soon. If you have suggested recipes for lobster on the grill please send them via e-mail, otherwise we'll have to settle for the steamed variety ... with lots of drawn butter!

Dick

Sorry to give you a start - that was not my intention, especially as I agree with you and the bubbles. I had just chosen them as the second alternate, kinda' like Miss Congeniality, I suppose, but ahead of SB.

As for grille, I do it in a very simple fashion. As I do both warm and cold water varieties, I'm usually doing just tails. I split the lower shell and leave the tail attached, at this point. A blend of high cream butter, a pinch of sea salt, some finely minced garlic and a squeeze of lemon are all that I add, both before the grille, and during, as a baste. The only problem that I ever face, is when number of items that my wife decides will be grilled increases, or as more, unexpected guests arrive. The lobsters need to be monitored, least they dry out too much, but cooked through. If I have to wrangle corn, mangos, papaya, goodness knows what all, something usually gives, and I try to see that it is NOT the lobster. Really even heat helps, as does a close eye - not too much wine, until the buggers are done. If I have to "add" more lobsters, after the cooking has started, I protest a lot, but it usually falls of deaf ears, especially since the crowd now gathering doesn't want to hear me complain. My instructions to make the guest list, check it twice, and hold to it, never seems to carry over from one dinner to the next ... oh well, life could be a lot more difficult. Lastly, I'll use the same butter, garlic, lemon (light on the lemon in my case) as a dipping sauce for the meat.

If I had whole Maine lobsters, I'd go the boiling route, but we don't see many of those in the desert SW.

Hope you fix up a batch real soon, and let us know what bubbles accompany the lobsters.

Hunt

Hey Hunt, Thanks for the suggestions, After all this talk, I'm geeting VERY hungry for lobster! Full report later.

Thanks, Dick