LESSONS IN PAIRING LOBSTER, WINE
My son’s club sandwich has become a favourite, but what to drink with it?
Many people in the food and wine business love to post pictures of what they are eating and drinking. I’m not sure how much of this is gloating and trying to make your followers jealous. But there is no denying there is an element of conspicuous consumption here. After all, not many people post pictures of a grilled cheese sandwich with a $9 bottle of peach-infused white wine from the supermarket.
Well, I have a buddy who does from time to time just to remind me of how annoying this kind of thing can be.
I do post food and wine pictures regularly. Maybe I have a deep-seated need I’m not aware of to be an exhibitionist. But really my goal is to test how food and wine go together.
What I find most interesting are the reactions, which serve as a sort of barometer of what interests the food and wine crowd. For example, I recently posted a picture of a lobster club sandwich that got tons of comments, many asking for the recipe.
LOBSTER RECIPE: CLUB SANDWICH
This has become my favourite way to eat lobster, and it’s fast and easy to prepare.
I would like to take credit for coming up with recipe, but it was my son, then 13, who ate this sandwich at a casse-croûte in the Gaspé, and then offered to cook for me. It’s a classic three-level club. Choose whatever bread you want. Mayonnaise each toasted piece to your heart’s content.
The bottom level is a scrambled egg (spice it up as you like) with lettuce. I like using arugula as it adds a peppery note, but romaine or any lettuce will work.
The top level is thinly sliced tomato and chopped up lobster with mayonnaise. Again, be creative and add any spices you like to the lobster mix.
While sacrilege to some, to make this an even faster preparation, I buy my lobster already cooked.
LOBSTER PAIRING: THE PRINCIPLES
Like most seafood, lobster is naturally high in iodine. While eating iodine-rich foods is a health benefit, it also focuses your wine choices.
It is generally accepted that wines that show minerality, or that sensation of “saltiness” or “flintiness,” pair well with iodinerich foods. I have no scientific explanation for this, but I do have decades of trying different wines with high-iodine foods like oysters, shrimp, lobster and cod.
By far the best pairings are wines from regions known for their minerality, like Champagne or a good quality sparkling wine, Chablis or Muscadet.
Dry Riesling is great as well. One possible explanation is that the sensation of salinity in the wine mimics the saltiness of the seafood.
I tend to work with texture more than flavours when I pair wines with food. The richer the seafood or fish, the richer you want your wine to be.
Adding butter, cream or mayonnaise to your recipe — like the lobster club — creates even more richness and requires a wine that is even more textured.
Can red wines work? It depends on the recipe.
I have had a light red with lobster cooked in red wine sauce, but in general, most seafood has too delicate a flavour to stand up to a red wine.
If you want red grapes, then go for a rosé, which is more nuanced and can also show these mineral saline notes, and is rarely too flavourful and won’t overpower.
Finally there is the cooking method to take into account. If you are grilling your lobster, then a white wine with a touch of barrel aging will add an extra dimension to the pairing.
The wine I chose for my lobster club sandwich was a Chenin Blanc from Château Yvonne. It had the richness of a Chardonnay but with the necessary mineral, saline note.
For more options for all of your lobster needs this summer, check out today’s suggestions.