Stuffed Lobster à la Béchamel
2 lb. lobster
1-1/2 cups milk
Bit of bay leaf
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
Few grains cayenne
Slight grating nutmeg
1 teaspoon chopped parsley
1 teaspoon lemon juice
Yolks 2 eggs
1/2 cup buttered crumbs
Remove lobster meat from shell and cut in dice. Scald milk with bay leaf, remove bay leaf and make a white sauce of butter, flour, and milk; add salt, cayenne, nutmeg, parsley, yolks of eggs slightly beaten, and lemon juice. Add lobster dice, refill shells, cover with buttered crumbs, and bake until crumbs are brown. One-half chicken stock and one-half cream may be used for sauce if a richer dish is desired.
Broiled Live Lobster
Live lobsters may be dressed for broiling at market, or may be done at home. Clean lobster and place in a buttered wire broiler. Broil eight minutes on flesh side, turn and broil six minutes on shell side. Serve with melted butter. Lobsters taste nearly the same when placed in dripping-pan and baked fifteen minutes in hot oven, and are much easier cooked.
To Split a Live Lobster. Cross large claws and hold firmly with left hand. With sharp-pointed knife, held in right hand, begin at the mouth and make a deep incision, and, with a sharp cut, draw the knife quickly through body and entire length of tail. Open lobster, remove intestinal vein, liver, and stomach, and crack claw shells with a mallet.
Baked Live Lobster. Devilled Sauce.
Prepare lobster same as for Broiled Live Lobster and place in a dripping-pan. Cook liver of lobster with one tablespoon butter three minutes. Season highly with salt, cayenne, and Worcestershire Sauce. Spread over lobster, and bake in a hot oven fifteen minutes. Remove to platter and serve at once, allowing over one and one-half pound lobster to each person.
