He begins all sexual encounters with an
awkward dance in time to a music of sorts; his mate guards with her life the
eggs that he fertilizes, but as soon as their children hatch, both parents will
eagerly
eat them if hungry enough. He's an odd character all right. He's been
called both cannibal and scavenger, a many limbed miniature sea monster, a
creature from inner space who is near blind despite his ten thousand tiny eyes
or facets, who can cast off an endangered arm or leg and grow an other at will.
His marvelous mixed up anatomy includes a nervous system centered in his belly
and a minute brain both above and below his throat; he "hears" with his legs,
"tastes" with his toes and has teeth in
his stomach. He is literally made inside out and upside down, his shell bones
enclosing his succulent flesh as if it were marrow, and, what's more, his family
has been living thus without complaint for some 100 million years. Yet this
second cousin of the spider, this vulture of the sea, is now close to becoming
America's favorite food for love. Oysters, choice Beluga caviar, black and white
truffles and paf~ de foie gras are certainly his rivals, it's true, not to
mention exotic foods like ortolan thighs and bird's nest soup, but he alone
among them makes a main course in himself; and furthermore, he constitutes
almost no carbohydrates and only eighty eight calories for a three quarter pound
serving. No hymns have been written to Homarus americanus, the American lobster,
no one has penned a panegyric on this princely dish, but the crotchety
crustacean has to be crowned King of the Clawed Love fish.
Much has been written in amatory treatises on the tempting lobster and his
phallic like claws, perhaps Brillat Savarin alone among great cooks and
erotologists neglecting to do Homarus homage. The long clawed lobster has
certainly lengthened and heightened the pleasures of Eros through the centuries.
Casanova, Gabrielle D'Annunzio and all the proverbial Lotharios of life and
literature have favored him. Lobster took its proper place in the famous paella
recipe of Angelo Torredana, Casanova's traveling companion, who appears to have
been more macho than the maestro, at least judging by the fact that he died in
the arms of his nineteen year old mistress while still a most vigorous ninety
two. Ribald Rabelais praises Homarus in several places: his Master Gaster
reveling in it; the divers of his Queen Quintessence "setting nets to catch the
wind and bagging great lobsters"; and Gargantua's friend Gymnastes advising that
lobster be cooked "red as a cardinal's hat" for the best possible results.
It has been recorded that The King of London's Streetwalkers, "Mad" William
Windham, regaled his girls with huge lobsters as well as plump oysters, and
spiced crawfish (small lobsters without claws) were zaftig Lillian Russell's
choice as a prelude to many a night of love. Similarly, the common crab, another
lobster relative, figures in Crab Louis (the tender meat of Dungeness crabs
lavished with hot chili sauce and whipped cream mayonnaise), which ranks among
the most vaunted of aphrodisiac foods. When dining at his favorite New Orleans
restaurant the greatest of tenors and exemplary lover Enrico Caruso would
reorder this tasty dish, invented by a San Francisco chef, until there wasn't
any left in the kitchen. Yet neither of these concoctions compares with lobster
plain, or the many lobster dishes sensuous gourmets have invented over the
years.
Here's a nice recipie to start your love feast
Lobster in Cream
Sauce.