Lobster Butter

By Sam Sifton

Lobster Butter
Melina Hammer for The New York Times
Total Time
45 minutes
Rating
4(140)
Comments
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This is a Yankee take on the classic French recipe for beurre de homard, which incorporates cooked lobster meat into a compound butter. It is thriftier, using the shells to bring flavor instead of the lobster meat, but is no less delicious for that. The process is akin to making a lobster stock, with butter in place of water. Use the lobster butter as a melted dip for shrimp or yet more lobster, or as a topping for sautéed scallops or fish.

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Ingredients

Yield:½ cup
  • Shells of cooked lobsters, crushed into small pieces
  • 8tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter per lobster
Ingredient Substitution Guide
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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Heat oven to 300 degrees. Put lobster shells on the largest sheet pan you can fit in the oven, and allow them to dry and roast, about 15 to 20 minutes. Remove and set aside.

  2. Step 2

    Meanwhile, melt 1 stick butter per lobster in a large bowl or double boiler set over simmering water, making sure bowl does not touch the surface of water. Add lobster shells to the melted butter and simmer gently, without boiling, for about 20 minutes.

  3. Step 3

    Strain the melted butter through a cheesecloth-lined sieve into another bowl, then set that bowl into ice to chill. Cover bowl and refrigerate to set, then skim off the top and discard any liquids. Use within a few days, or freeze for up to a few weeks.

Ratings

4 out of 5
140 user ratings
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Comments

Lee

No need to slam Sam. The idea is to cook the lobsters, eat the meat and then use the shells rather than throwing them in the garbage. So actually very thrifty (and nifty) idea. There are many recipes on this
site that you won't use but that others will. Bravo to the NYT for this amazing resource.

Lee snell

Not ready to make the butter? Put lobster shells (after you eat the lobster) bagged in the freezer until you need them.

BGE

If you're in the right part of the country, lobster will be a lot cheaper than many other proteins right now ... and this sounds like a great use for the lobster shells that would otherwise end up in the garbage.

adrienne

I use half the butter and use a really good mild tasting olive oil, it was really delicious.

T

Perfect mixed with the lobster meat for a lobster roll. That way you use both the meat and lobster in one go.

Leez

FWIW - Instead of the double boiler (hot! steamy!) I smash of the shells and put them in a large ziploc bag with the butter, press out air and seal, then submerge the bag in simmering water. Same principle - water/steam hovering at aroung 200-212 degrees, but I find it easier, cooler, more effective, and more energy efficient.

One Up Long

I do something similar but use sous vide technique.

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