Rock lobster (aka crayfish)
American crawfish
Survey of lobster recipes through time
Lobster fra Diavolo (aka Lobster a L'Americaine)
Lobster Newberg
Lobster rolls
Lobster Thermidor
Have questions? Ask!
|
About lobster Rock lobster (aka crayfish) American crawfish Survey of lobster recipes through time Lobster fra Diavolo (aka Lobster a L'Americaine) Lobster Newberg Lobster rolls Lobster Thermidor |
Have questions? Ask! |
Archaeologists tell us humans have been eating crustaceans (lobsters, crabs, shrimp) from prehistoric times to present. They know this from excavating "middens," deposits of shells and bones left by early civilizations. These foods weren't "discovered" (like early people "discovered" some corn popped if placed near the fire) but noticed. The earliest hunter-gatherers took advantage of every available food resource. People who lived near water (oceans, seas, lakes, rivers) naturally took advantage of the foods offered by these resources.
About lobster
Culinary evidence confirms lobsters were known to ancient Romans and Greeks. The were highly
esteemed by the British, not so esteemed by American colonists. This sea creature enjoyed a
resurgence
of demand in the 19th century which still holds true today.
"Lobster, well-armed sea creature. Its most noticeable external traits were its long hands and
small feet' (Archestratus), its bent fingers (Epicharmus) and its dark color (Pliny). It is very
good, albeit somewhat complicated, to eat; simpler for the eventual diner if the cook minces the
meat and forms it into cakes, as described in Apicius...The lobster (Homarus Gammarus) is Greek
askakos..., Latin astacus and elephantus; the latter name is seldom attested in classical texts but
was certainly in use, since it survives in modern Italian dialects."
"So the Romans who came to Britain [43 AD] and who lived within reach of the sea must have
been very happy to enjoy the local seafhish...seafoods such as crab and lobster were taken.
Shellfish of many kinds became very popular" (p. 21)
"Lobster, crayfish and crab were greatly enjoyed [in mid-fifteenth century Britain], though they
seldom reached the inland eater...Crab and lobster were also boiled and eaten cold with vinegar,
as were shrimps." (P. 43)
"During the eighteenth century...Lobsters, crabs, shrimps and prawns continued to be enjoyed."
(p. 48-9)
"In Victorian times...Lobster, crabs, shrimps and prawns could be dressed in many ways, but the
commonest was to boil them to eat cold. After being simmered in a brine of water and Bay salt in
a fish kettle, lobsters could either be eaten immediately, or kept as long as a quarter of a year,
wrapped in brine-soaked rags and buried deep in sand." (p. 55)
"Lobster, much as today, was considered especially elegant and appropriate food for lovers, being
an aphrodesiac. There is a common perception that lobster was considered a poor man's food,
and this many have been in the case in colonial New England but not back in Europe. In fact
English man-about-town Samuel Pepys's diary records than an elegant dinner he thew in 1663
included a fricassee of rabbit and chickens, carp, lamb, pigeons, various pies and four
lobsters..Lobster was cooked either by roasting, boiling or by removing the meat from the shell
and cooking it separately."
"The American lobster (Homarus americanus) is today on of the more expensive food items on
the market, owing to the difficulty of obtaining sufficeint quantities to meet the demand. But when
the first Europeans came to America, the lobster was one of the most commonly found
crustaceans. They sometimes washed up on the beaches of Plymouth, Massachusetts, in piles of
two feet high. These settlers approached the creatures with less than gustator enthusiasm, but the
lobsters' abundance mande them fit for the tables of the poor...In 1622 Governor William
Bradford of the Plymouth Plantation apologized to a new arrival of settlers that the only dish he
"could presente their friends with was a lobster...without bread or anyhting else but a cupp of fair
water." Lobsters in those days grew to a tremendous size, sometimes forty or more pounds...The
taste for lobster developed rapidly in the nineteenth century, and commercial fisheries specializing
in the crustacean were begun in Maine in the 1840s, thereby giving rise to the fame of the "Maine
lobster," which was being shipped around the world a decade later. In 1842 the first lobster
shipments reached Chicago, and Americans enjoyed them both at home and in the cities' new
"lobster palaces," the first of which was built in New York by the Shanley brothers...Diamond Jim
Brady thought nothing of downing a half-dozen in addition to several other full courses...By 1885
the American lobster industry was providing 130 million pounds of lobster per year. So afterward
the population of the lobster beds decreased rapidly, and by 1918 only 33 million pounds were
taken."
"In 1621 Edward Winslow reported to a friend back in England concerning the Plymouth settlement that "our Bay is full of Lobsters
all the Summer." In Salem a few years later, Francis Higginson observed that "the least Boy in the Plantation may both catch
and eat what he will of" lobters. Lobsters were not only plentiful in early New England, they were large.Higginson reported some
weighing twenty-five pounds. But lobsters were not always a welcome sight on early colonial tables. As noted above, in 1623 Governor
Bradford complained of having only lobster to serve visitors...Early New Englanders would have been perplexed to find lobsters
grouped, as they were by one twentieth-century writer, with caviar and filet mignon...No delicacy, American lobsters were nonetheless
better received than many shellfish. They were soon being cooked much the same way as their smaller European counterparts, in sauces
for other fish, or as accompaniments to roasts...When not potting lobsters, baking them in pies or using them in sauces,
eighteenth- and nineteenth-century New England cooks were apt to stew or fricassee them...Boiled lobsters were served cold with dressing, not hot and "in the rough,"
as we are most likely to encounter them today. In the 1840s, [Catharine] Beecher...presented boiled lobster served in this
fashion...The American taste for lobster was on the rise...When nineteeth-century canning methods, developed around 1840 and
perfected during the Civil War, were redirected toward peacetime activities, lobsters were among the most popular canned
products. By 1880, there were twenty-three lobster canneries in Maine...Fresh lobsters, made more widely available by improved
transportation, were increasingly preferred."
Is it true that in Colonial New England it was against the law to serve lobster more than three times a week to servants? No. Food historian
Sandy Oliver elucidates:
---Food in the Ancient World From A-Z, Andrew Dalby [Routledge:London] 2003 (p.
198)
---Food and Drink in Britain: From the Stone Age to the 19th Century, C. Anne Wilson
[Academy Chicago:Chicago] 1991
---Food in Early Modern Europe, Ken Albala [Greenwood Press:Westport CT] 2003 (p.
75)
---Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, John F. Mariani [Lebhar-Freidman:New
York] 1999 (p. 186)
[NOTE: This book has separate entries for selected popular dishes: Lobster rolls, lobster
Newburg, lobster a l'americaine, and lobster fra diavolo. If you need these ask your librarain to
help you find a copy.]
---America's Founding Food: The Story of New England Cooking, Keith Stavely & Kathleen Fitzgerald [University of
North Carolina Press:Chapel Hill NC] 2004 (P. 102-4)
"The lobster and salmon story is one of the most frequently told about New England seafood. It generally goes like this: Salmon and lobster "used to be so abundant that, it is said, " pick one---the apprentices, servants, boarders, lumbermen, occupants, prisoners, and slaves of-pick another--Newcastle, England, Boston or Lowell, Massachusetts, Puget Sound, Bristol, Rhode Island, Islesboro, Maine, the Maine State Prison, or the South-refused to eat either lobsters or salmon, more than twice a week. Recent versions of the story usually feature lobster, but the vast majority of accounts prefer salmon.
All the stories have in common some group of people who have no control over their food choices, people who have to eat what is served them. The stories all explain that these sufferers had a meeting to form a complaint presented to an official in charge. The story, substantiated only by reference to an alleged expert who "has it on good authority" or words to that effect, is usually put in the context of former natural abundance. So the tale is reported second hand, refers to a time from fifty to one hundred years earlier than the usual late 1800s publishing date. The most common sources for this particular tale are town histories which abounded in the nineteenth century often written by a local antiquarian, though it appears also in George Brown Goode's The Fisheries and Fishery Industries of the United States published in 1887. Lack of primary evidence is the main reason to doubt this story. No minutes of these indignation meetings, nor ordinances outlawing sea food more than twice a week, have ever emerged. But why salmon, why lobster, why twice a week?
The stories appear when salmon or lobster are becoming historically scarce, when the author wants to recall a distant, more abundant past. Twice a week was for
many in early England or the colonies, the number of fast days a week on which one customarily ate fish. As Protestantism neglected religious fasts marked by fish
consumption, the idea of having to eat fish more than one's religion formerly required sounded like an imposition on people who always preferred meat to fish."
SOURCE: The Truth About Spices, Lobsters, and Flaming Ladies,
Sandy Oliver
About Maine lobsters
Lobsters:Everything You
Wanted to Know/Maine Dept. of Marine Resources
---history, statisitcs, biology, environmental impact, laws
Maine Lobster Promotion
Council (history, statistics, trends)
The Lobster Institute, University of Maine
Rock lobster (aka crayfish)
Rock lobster is another name for spiny lobster, a popular warm-water crustacaen. In some parts
of the world it is also known as crayfish or crawfish, which accounts for the confusion between
rock lobster and American crawfish. Notes here:
"Rock lobster. Apparently Americans find the name crawfish a gastronomic turn-off, for when
theis crustacean appears on restaurant menus or is canned or frozen for sale, it often goes under
the disguise of rock lobster (originally an alternative name for the spiny lobster)."
"Spiny lobster, the correct name for crustaceans of the family Paniluridae, is prefereable to the
name crawfish which is sometimes used by invited confusion with crayfish. Needless to say, using
the name crayfish or cray, as sometimes in Australia, is even more likely to cause confustion. The
spiny lobsters are indubitably lobsters, bu they differ from the archetypal lobsters of the N.
Atlantic in having no claws and in belonging to warmer waters. Indeed they are most abundant in
the tropics...Their size and the excellence of their meat ensures that they are in strong demand,
although the question whether they are better than or inferior to the common lobster is and will no
doubt for ever be debated. Such debate is complicated by the fact that the established recipes for
the Atlantic lobster, generally speaking, have been those of classical French cuisine plus the more
robust tradtitions evolved in N. America; whereas the spiny lobster, with its worldwide range in
warmer waters, has attracted to itself a large number of recipes involving tropical or subtropical
ingredients."
"...millions of other lobsters come from South Africa, South America, Mexico, Australia, and
elsewhere, usually in the form of "spiny lobsters," sometimes called "crawfish" but distinct from
the true native freshwater crayfish...Spiny lobster. (Panlirus argus). A favorite Floridian species,
the spiny lobster ranges from the Carolinas to the Caribbean and is related to a Californian
species., P. Interruptus. At market, spiny lobsters are often called "rock lobsters."
"Rock lobster. A market name for the spiny lobster. Large quantities of South African and
Australian "rock lobsters" are imported to the U.S. annually, as our demand exceeds the local
supply. They are also imported from Chile and New Zealand. Although these imports represent a
different genus (Jasus), they are of the same family and form a culinary standpoint are no different
from a spiny lobster taken in North American waters...Spiny lobster: In the western Atlantic the
spiny lobster...ranges from North Carolina and Bermuda to Brazil, through the southern Gulf of
Mexico and the Caribbean Sea. It is most abundant in Florida, Bahamas, Cuba and British
Honduras...Closely related species occur in California. Sometimes called crawfish, and
misleadingly crayfish, the spiny lobster like other members of this family (Palinuridae) has 5 pairs
of legs but no claws. Thus, its tail portion provides the bulk of the meat. Compared to the
American lobster its texture is coarser but of good flavor and tender when freshly prepared.
Although 6 species of spiny lobster occur in the western Atlantic, the differences are taxonomical
rather than culinary, and they are all generally similer in appearance; numerous spines cover the
body, with 2 large, hooked horns over the eyes...It is a beautifully marked crustacean with
browns, yellows, orange, green and blue mottled over the upper parts and underside of the
tail...Spiny lobster tails can be boiled, steamed, deep-fried or broiled, or the raw meat can be
removed for the shell and used in any of the prepared dishes such a scurries, thermidors,
newburgs or salads. Never bake it, as the musculature will tighten like a drumhead."
Rock lobster vs spiny lobster/U.S.
FDA
Rock lobster, biology
& habitat/Dept. of Fisheries, Western Australia
ABOUT AMERICAN CRAYFISH & CRAWFISH
"Crayfish. Also, "crawfish," "crawdad," crawdaddy," and "Florida lobster." Any of these various
freshwater crustaceans of the genera Canbarus and Astacus. Although considerably smaller, the
crayfish remembles the lobster, and there are 250 species and subspecies found in North America
alone. The name is from Middle English crevise, and, ultimately, from Frankish krabtija. Crayfish
formed a significant part of the diet of the Native Americans of the South and still hold their
highest status among the Cajuns of Louisiana. Louisanans have an enourmous passion and
appetitie for what they call "crawfish" (a name used by Captain John Smith as early as
1615)...The crayfish figures in Louisiana folklore, and the natives hold "crayfish boils" whenever
the crustacean is in season. Breaux Bridge, Louisiana, calls itself the "Crawfish Capitol of the
World" and to prove it, cooking up crayfish in pies, gumbos, stews, and every other way
imaginable. Yet one would not easily find a crawfish on restaurant menus in Louisiana much
before 1960 because they were considered a common food to be eaten at home. Crayfish are
commercially harvested in waters of the Mississippi basin, most of them of the Red Swamp and
white River varieties, with the season running approximately form Thanksgiving Day to the
Fourth of July..."Cajun popcorn" is a dish of battered, deep-fried crayfish popularized by Cajun
chef Paul Prudhomme in the 1980s."
Breaux Bridge Crawfish Festival
A SURVEY OF LOBSTER RECIPES THROUGH HISTORY
[1AD, Ancient Rome]
[1475, Italy]
[1685, London]
[1747, London]
[1845, London]
[1884, Boston]
[NOTE: all of the above sources are recently published and readily obtainable through your local
public
library.]
Lobster Fra Diavolo
Where did Lobster Fra Diavolo originate? Like many popular Italian-American dishes, there are several theories. What is
the true evolution of Lobster Fra Diavolo? Our survey of historic recipes suggests it might have been a complicated
mix of Italian ingenuity inspired by French fare demanded by American customers.
Why? Traditional Italian "diavolo" recipes employ chicken but not tomatoes. French
"diable"-type recipes combine chicken and tomato puree. Lobster American style employs (in French, Englsih and American cookbooks)
demands tomatoes in some form. Most, but not all, rely on cayenne pepper to invoke the *devil*. About devilled foods.
"Lobster Fra Diavolo. A recipe of elusive origin. I'd always thought lobster Fra Diavolo Italian, probably southern Italian, but I do not pretend to be an expert on
thee cookingof that extraordinary country. Then, just as I was putting this book to bed, along comes a New York Times article (May 29, 1996 p. C3) suggesting
that this rich dish--chunks of lobster, still in the shell, bedded on pasta and smothered with a spicy tomato sauce--was created early this century by Italian
immigrants in or around New York City. Like spaghetti and meatballs...Florence Fabricant...doesn't proclaim that lobster Fra Diavolo is American. Instead, she
queries the experts, such respected writers on and teachers of Italian cooking as Marcella Hazan...Hazan remembers eating Lobster Fra Diavolo in 1940 at Grotta
Azzura, a restaurant opened in New York's Little Italy in 1908..."I remember the dish clearly," Farbicant quotes Hazan as saying, "because it was so heavy and
typical of Italian cooking in America. We con't eat like that in Italy." Anna Teresa Callen concurs. "It's not an Italian dish,"..."It's really another Italian-American
invention. I have never seen it in Italy and suspect that it came from Long Island." Bugialli, like Hazan and Callen, scoffs at the notion taht Lobster Fra Diavolo is an
Italian classic. "We don't even have American lobsters in Italy,"..."And a heavy tomato sauce with hot peppers, seafood, and pasta all in one dish is not Italian
cooking. I think it came from a restaurant that was near the old Met, around Thirty-eighth Street and Broadway. Would that have been the old Mama Leone's?
It opened behind the Met in 1906. Restauranteur Tony May, a Neapolitan, says he never heard of Lobster Fra Diavolo until he arrived in New York in 1963. He
thinks Veusvio, a midtown Manhattan restaurant, might have invented it. But Frank Scognamillo, the owner of Pastys'...begs to differ. His father, Pasquale,
emigrated from Naples to New York in the early 1920s and opened Patsy's in 1944, Lobster Fra Diavolo was a house specialty...Scognamillo says his father told
him Lobster Fra Diavolo was a Neapolitan dish, and that like many other spicy, tomatoey recipes of southern Italy, it was handed down for generations....With all
due respect to Scognamillo and Davino---I tend to think Hazan, Bugialli, Callen "and company" nearer the mark."
"Lobster fra diavolo. An Italian-American dish whose name translates as "Lobster Brother Devil" made with lobster cooked in a spicy, peppery tomato sauce. It
was a creation of Southern Italian immigrants, who did not have American lobsters in Italy (in Itlay dishes termed "alla diavolo" indicate on made with a good deal of
coarsley ground black pepper), and became a popular dish in Italian-American restaurants in New York by the 1940s."
The oldest print reference we have for serving Lobster fra Diavolo indicates the dish may have been served in New York City, 1908:
"One of the most discussed questions on gastronomy is the case of lobster a l'americane. For a long time specialists have maintianed,
since no American dish has ever seen the fire of French stoves, that this dish must be called lobster a l'armoricaine, "Armorique"
being the ancient name for Brittany. Now it would appear that if by definition a regional dish is one composed of local
products--the vegetables, the fish, and the wines--it is difficult to understand why Brittany, with its scarcity of
tomatoes, not too plentiful Cognac, supplying only the lobster, could claim the credit for the dish. Also, the great chefs have
continued to baptize the dish homard a l'americaine. If we believe the latter version, accepted in the realm of
Good Cheer, this fanciful name was one invented on spot to suit the occasion. This dish apparently saw the light of day before
1870, in Noel Peter restaurant in Paris, where chef Fraisse commanded the cooking brigade after the dinner hour and just before
closing, demanding and insisting that Peters serve them dinner. The only things the kitchen could provide at this late hour
were some live lobsters--and there was no time to cook them in court-bouillon. A flash of inspiration, and a new dish was
born. The enthusiastic and grateful guests demanded to know the name of this new dish. Peters, still under the influence of hsi
recent trip to America, replied off-hand and with out thinking: "Le homard a l'americaine."...it is now proven and accepted
that a Parisian restaurant was the cradle of this dish..."
Knife and Fork in New York: Where to Eat-What to Order, Lawton Mackall [Doubleday & Company:Garden City NY] 1949 (2nd edition) confirms Mr.
Mariani's observations. This books was the "Zagats" of its day. It is interesting to note entries for Enrico & Paglieri's, Vesuvio's, Leone's or Paty's
(see Jean Anderson's reference above) do not mention this dish. Fra Diavolo menu items were noted in these restaurants:
Serving up these recipes for your examination:
[1869:France]
[1884:USA]
[1891:Italy]
[1908]
[1919]
[1939]
[1949]
"Lobster Fra Diavolo
[1955]
[1961]
"Lobster a L'Americane (Serves 4)
"Broiled Lobster
Lobster Newberg
"Lobster Newberg. Also "lobster a la Newburg"...The dish was made famous at Delmonico's
Restaurant in
New York in 1876 when the recipe was brought to chef Charles Ranhofer by a West Indies sea
captain
named Ben Wenberg. It was an immediate hit, especially for after-theater suppers, and owner
Charles
Delmonico honored the capatain by naming the dish "lobster a la Wenberg." But later Wenberg
and
Delmonico had a falling-out, and the restauranteur took the dish off the menu, restoring it only by
popular
demand by renaming it "lobster a la Newberg," reversing the first three letters of the captain's
name. Chef
Ranhofer also called it "lobster a la Delmonico," but the appelation "Newberg" (by 1897 it was
better known
under the spelling "Newburg") stuck, and the dish became a standard in hotel dining rooms in the
United
States. It is still quite popular and is found in French cookbooks, where it is sometimes referred to
as
"Homard saute a la creme."...The first printed recipe appeared in 1895."
Ranhofer's recipe, Lobster a la
Newberg or Delmonico, circa 1894
Fannie Merritt Farmer's 1896 cookbook distinguishes between
Lobster a la
Delmonico and Lobster a la Newburg: (select "next page" for Newburg recipe)
Lobster rolls
Sometimes...the simpler the recipe the more complicated the history. Such is the case with lobster
rolls. When it comes
to lobster rolls, food historians generally agree on two points:
1. There is no one single recipe for lobster rolls.
What is a lobster roll?
"ON A ROLL...
Temperature's rising, the surf's pounding, the lobster harvest is at an all-time high. Bring on the
lobster rolls!
The roll: It must be a stand-alone hot-dog bun, rectangular, flat on both sides, coming to a crisp
right angle at the flat base. If it's oval or toasted, do not touch it. If it's not buttered, do not even
look at it.
The meat: It must be fresh and predominantly from the tail. It must be at least three inches
wide at the top, extending at least an inch above the crest of the bun. No less than a
quarter-pound of lobster per sandwich. Some joints boast that they use a full lobster in each
sandwich, but it takes nearly five lobsters to get a pound of meat.
The dressing: The lobster may be mixed with a thin lather of mayo but not salad dressing. Dick
Henry, co-owner of the Maine Diner, believes in naked lobster. "All meat," he says. I, however,
will accept celery, if finely chopped. "It gives a hint of the taste," agrees Billy Tower, who has
sold lobster rolls for four decades at Barnacle Billy's restaurant.
The temp: Like a hot-fudge sundae, the ideal lobster roll is a contradiction of temperatures:
warm bun, chilled meat. "I'm 60 years old, and that's the way I've always been told it should be,"
says Georgia Kennett of Five Islands Lobster Co. But it has become quite respectable to serve the
meat hot, in which case the lobster should be covered with drawn butter, not mayonnaise, and
eaten with a fork and knife."
A survey of current online menus confirms there is no distinct geographic boundary that separates
the two versions. You can find both versions in restaurants from the top of Maine to the tip Long
Island.
When did lobster rolls begin?
"Lobster rolls...because they are made with hamburger buns, they are definately twentieth century
(soft, hamburger yeast buns were first maufactured in 1912)."
---The American Century Cookbook: The Most Popular Recipes of the 20th Century, Jean
Anderson [Clarkson Potter:New York] 1997 (p. 345)
"About 1966-67 Fred Terry, owner of the Lobster Roll Restaurant...in Amagansett, New York,
produced a recipe containing mayonnaise, celery, and seasonings; mixed with fresh lobster meat
placed on a heated hot-dog roll that has come to be known as the "Long Island (New York)
lobster roll"...According to Carolyn Wyman...lobster meat drenched in butter and served on a
hamburger or hot dog roll has long been available at seaside eateries in Connecticut and may well
have originated at a restaurant named Perry's in Milford, where owner Harry Perry concocted it
for a regular customer named Ted Hales sometime in the 1920s. Furthermore, Perry's was said to
have a sign from 1927 to 1977 reading "Home of the Famous Lobster Roll."
"The lobster roll is a tradition, though not a very old one. My 75-year-old father, who has lived all
his life in Maine, says he doesn't remember eating a lobster roll until sometime after World War II.
''It was down around Tenants Harbor,'' he said. ''Some people named Cook had a stand down
there where a lobster roll cost 35 cents.''"
A survey of historic New England cookbooks confirms lobster salad was popular in the 19th
century. This is the first recipe we find that suggest serving lobster salad with toast:
Lobster Thermidor
"Thermidor. The name of a lobster dish created in January 1894 at Marie's, a famous restaurant in
the
Boulevard Saint-Denis in Paris, on the evening of the premiere of Thermidor, a play by Victorien
Sardou
(according to the Dictionnaire de l"Academie des Gastronomes). Other authors attribute it
to Leopold
Mourier of the Cafe de Paris, where the chef Tony Girod, his assistant and successor, created thte
recipe
used today...The name 'thermidor' is also given to a dish consisting of sole poached in white wine
and fish
fumet, with shallots and parsley, and covered with a sauce made from the reduced cooking liquid
thickened
with butter and seasoned with mustard."
"Thermidor. A designation given to a method of preparing and cooking lobster in which the
creature (up to
this point alive) is cut in half and grilled, has its flesh sliced up and returned to the half shell in
bechamel
sauce with various added flavourings, and is then browned under the grill again and served. It
commemorates the play Thermidor by Victorien Sardou, for the first-night celebration of which it
was
created in Paris in 1894."
Escoffier's recipe, circa 1903:
"2124 Homard Thermidor
About crabs
According to the Encyclopedia Americana [1995 edition] there are approximately 4,500
different
species of
crabs living on Earth. They are distributed throughout the world. This means? It is probably
impossible to tell
for sure who (much less where!) ate the first crabs. Food historians tell us crabs were known to
ancient
Greeks and Romans. How do they know? Art and literature. Historians also tell us crabs were not
well liked
by these ancient Mediterranean people as food.
"Crab, group of water creatures characterised by their hard, round, flat shells. Several of the
larger kinds
are very good to eat, but ancient sources do no suggest they were eaten enthusiastically. The
various
classical names cannot be confidently attached to individual species; they varied in their reference
across
the ancient world and through time."
Crabs in Great Britain
"Prehistoric period...Crabs are thought to have been taken from the deep waters off Oronsay and Oban by means of plaited baskets."
The Romans who came to Britain and who lived within reach of the sea must have been happy to enjoy the local seafish, and British fishermen would have had a
good market for their catches...Nearer inshore, seafoods such as crab and lobster were taken."---ibid (p. 21)
"Medieval period...The distribution of the more usual forms of fish was carried out mainly by the fishmongers, who had their own guild in London by the middle of
the twelfth century. The varied range of their merchandise can be gathered from the accounts of Daniel Rough, who was the common clerk of Romney, Kent from
1353 to 1380 , and a fishermonger as well. His stock included 'oysters, crabs, trout, sprats, porpoise, salmon, haddock, lampreys, mackerel, codling, conger eel,
shrimps, red and white herrings, whiting, "pickerelle" [young pike], stockfish, gunards, whelks, tench and "strinkes of pimpernelle" [small eels]'."---ibid (p. 38)
"Renaissance...Lobster, crayfish and crab were greatly enjoyed, though they seldom reach the inland eater. At formal meals they presented difficulties. 'Crab is a slut
to carve and a wrawde wight [perverse creature]. By the the the carver in a noble household had finished picking the meat out of ever claw with a knife-point, had
piled it all into the 'broadshell', and had added vinegar and mixed spices, the tepid crab had to be sent back again to the kitchen to be reheated before he could
offer it to his lord. Crab and lobster were also boiled and eaten cold with vinegar, as were shrimps."---ibid (p. 43-4)
"Eighteenth century...Lobsters, crabs, shrimps and prawns continued to be enjoyed."---ibid (p. 49)
Crabs in America
"The early history of crab consumption reflects highly regional tastes...Because of the
labor-intensive effort of harvesting crabs, in colonial times the meat was used in small amounts (as
was
most shellfish) in soups, stews, sauces, and, like other flaked fish, in small fried cakes. Some
recipes suggested that other shellfish could be substituted for crab. Blue crab fanges from
Delware to Florida but that from Chesapeake Bay is most famous...Snow crab, sometimes called
queen-crab...from the colder waters of the North Atlantic and North Pacific oceans, appeared on
the market in the 1960s...Alaska king crab is highly prized for its large meaty claws and
legs...Dungeness crab is found on the Pacific coast from Mexico to Alaska...Rock crab ranges
from Labrador, Canada to Florida."
"Outdoor "crab feasts" are common enough on Maryland's Eastern Shore, the live hard-shell
crabs being forced into a makeshift container...to be steamed in hotly spiced vinegar
vapor...Charleston and Savannah both lay claim to the invention of she-crab soup, one of the most
delicious of the region's springtime specialties...The soup is based on a combination of the meat
oand roe of the female blue crab, which is recognizable by its broad "apron" on the underside of
the shell...She-crab soup used to be perpetually on the menu of Charleston's Fort Sumter
Hotel...Crabs--in greater variety than on any other continent--were found by settlers on both
coasts of North America. Stone crabs, common from North Carolina to Texas, remain abundant
in Florida and the Keys, and are trapped around Beaufort, North Carolina, and Charleston, South
Carolina. There antebellum cooks used to stew them in white wine lace with vinegar; then with a
seasoning of nutmeg and anchovy the cook would heat the crab with a good deal of butter and
egg yolks, serving it on a large crab shell as a second course...In whatever way it comes to the
kitchen, crab meat moves inventive cooks to improvise and sometimes to include extenders
among the ingredients for a crab dish...Soft-shell crabs are another matter. They are the blue crabs
of Long Island Sound, the Eastern Shore, or to the Gulf of Mexico in that biological state when
they have molted on shell and have not yet grown a new one..."
[1884] Crabs , Boston Cooking School Cook Book, Mrs. D. A. Lincoln
Crab cakes
"Crab cake. A sauteed or fried patty of crabmeat. The term dates in print to 1930 in Crosby
Gaige's New York World's Fair Cook Book, where they are called "Baltimore crab cakes,"
suggesting they have long been known in the South. A "crabburger" is a crab cake eaten on a
hamburger bun."
Crab cake recipes through time
[1685]
[1747]
[1792]
[1870]
[1880]
[1887]
[1902]
[1930]
[1932]
[1932]
[1976]
About shrimp
"Squilla" is the Latin word for shrimp. According to the food historians, both ancient Romans and
Greeks
had ready access to very large specimens and enjoyed their shrimp prepared many different ways.
Apicius,
an ancient Roman author, collected these recipes in his cookbook.
"Shrimp and prawn, group of small river and sea creatures. The larger species are easily cooked
and very
easily eaten...In Italy, if Marital is to be believed, the shrimp was at its best in the tidal reaches of
the River
Liris in southern Latium. This river reached the sea at Minturnae. Now it was at Minturnae,
according to
legend, that Apicius lived--eighty years before Marital's time--and enjoyed the local magnificent
shrimps,
which grow bigger than the shrimps at Smyrna, bigger indeed than the lobsters at Alexandria' to
quote
Athnaeus...Pliny the Younger boasted of good shrimps a little further north, at his Laurentan villa.
Shrimps
danced when roasted on the coals, Ophelion tells us...The were served honey-glazed at the dinner
described by Philoxenus, and in general in ancient cuisine they were roasted, or fried in a skillet,
rather than
boiled."
"There have always been customers for shrimp ready to fall upon them whenever and wherever
they could
be delivered. In the ancient Mediterranean world, where fishing was on an artisanal scale and
almost
everybody lived close to the water, the Greeks preferred the larger types of shrimp even to
lobster, and
cooked them wrapped in fig leaves. The Romans made the finest grade of all their all-purpose
sauce,
liquamen, from shrimps. When Apicius heard that there were particularly large, luscious ones in
Libya, he
chartered a ship to sample them on the spot himself, but he was so much disappointed by the first
ones
brought to him aboard ship that he sailed home without ever setting food on shore."
Recipe
for
scillas (modernized version)
"The word shrimp derives from Middle English shrimpe, meaning "pygmy" or the crustacean
itself. Shrimp
harvesting was known as early as the seventeenth century in Louisiana, whos bayou inhabitants
used seine
nets up to two thousand feet in circumference. Only after 1917 did mechanized boats utilize trawl
nets to
catch shrimp."
Shrimp vs. prawn?
" Shrimp...a term which always refers to certain crustceans...in the order of Decapoda Crustacia...but which, with the assocaited
term 'prawn', is used in different ways on the two sides of the Atlantic--and in other parts of the world, depending on whether
the use of the English language has been influenced by the British or by Americans. Since the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization
of the United Nations) has taken the trouble to produce a comprehensive Catalogue of Shrimps and Prawns of the World (Holthuis,
1980), they may be allowed to explain: 'we may say that in Great Britain the term 'shrimp' is the more general of the two, and is
the only term used for Crangonidae and most smaller species. 'Prawn' is the more special of the two names, being used solely for
Palaemonidae and larger forms, never for the very small ones. In North America the name 'prawn' is practically obsolete and is
almost entirely replaced by the word 'shrimp' (used for even the largest species, which may be called 'jumbo shrimp'). If the
word 'prawn' is used at all in America it is attached to small pieces."
"Prawn. A Crustacean in the order of Decapoda. Prawns differ in the appearance from shrimps in having more slender abdomens and
longer leags but the names are used synonymously in commercial trade. Unfortunately, at market "prawn" is univerally applied to
any off the larger marine shrimps. The less familiar term "freshwater prawn" refers to paleamonid shrimps, specifically
Macrobrachium of which there are more than 100 species on a world basis. The giant Malaysian prawn (M. rosenbergii) is
perhaps the bes known and is widely cultured in southern Asia as well as Hawaii and more recently in Puerto Rico. The
Tahitian prawn (M. lar) is also widely distributed in the western Pacific Islands, and other species are indigenous to India, the
Philippines, Africa, Central and South America. A large native from (M. acanthurus) is found in southern U.S. from the Neuse
River in North Carolina to Texas. However, freshwater prawns are only utilized on a local level by individual fishermen at present.
Stricly speaking, prawns are andromonous and not totally freshwater curstaceans, but they are harvested in rice fields, ponds and rivers....
Prawns are more perishable than marine shrimps and must be iced or flash frozen immediately after capture. Only the tail portion
is eaten. The always sweet meat is comparable to lobster in texture and flavor."
"Prawn (Macrobrachium acanthurus). A Crustacean similar to a shrimp but with a more slender body and longer legs. The name is from
Middle Englsih prayne. At market the term prawn is often used to describe a wide variety of sherimp that are not prawns at all. The
only native American species is found in the South, ranging from North Carolina to Texas. Prawns are cultivated in Hawaii."
"The terms "shrimp" and "prawn" are used almost interchangeably. Americans primarily use the word "shrimp" for large and
small crustaceans in the Penaeidae and Pandalidae families. Elsewhere in the world "prawn" usually describes a smaller
creature."
Shrimp cocktail
Oysters were original the "cocktail" shellfish of choice. Shrimp variations were popular in
Cajun/Creole cooking before they begin to show up in "mainstream" cookbooks. Presumably this
is because oysters were "wildly" popular with Americans during the late 19th century. Shrimp,
less so. Tabasco, a common ingredient, is also a product of Louisiana. Avery Island, to be exact.
Incidentally, "cocktail" appetizers (think fruit cocktail, shrimp cocktail) were extremly popular
during the 1920s, the decade of Prohibition. In the 1920s, these appetizers were actually served in
"cocktail glasses" originally meant to hold alcoholic beverages. It was a creative way to use the
stemware!
What was the popular brand we used to buy in supermarkets?
A sampler of early recipes
[1924]
General Recipe for Cocktail Sauce (Individual service)
The oldest reference to shrimp cocktail in the New York Times is this advertisement:
"Pride of the Farm Tomato Catsup. Cocktail Sauce for Christmas Dinner. Start you dinner with
an appetizer. An oyster, clam or shrimp cocktail gives tone as well as relish...For shrimp cocktail,
mix the shrimp and catsup together and serve in small glass dish at each place."
Shrimp scampi
Scampi has two meanings: the name of a shrimp (Italian word) and the name of the dish. Shrimp
scampi,
as we Americans know it today, became popular after World War II. This was when many Italian
dishes
went "mainstream." According to our sources, "scampi" is not one set recipe, but a generic name
applied to
several dishes variously composed of shrimp. Notes here:
"What is scampi?"...is asked frequently of this department, and a quick check disclosed that it is
also asked
of fishmongers and Italian restauranteurs. Although the answers received will probably vary with
every
source consulted, they do fall into two basic categories: a type of shrimp or a preparation of
shrimp.
Howevever, the ramifications within these two categories are bewildering. In an effort to get an
unromantic,
unbiased definition of the word; Italian dictionaries of all sizes were consulted. Unfortunately they
were
peculiarly silent on the subject...Italian cookbooks yielded more relevant, but scarcely more
helpful
information. Most offered recipes for "scampi" or "shrimp scampi style" and such recipes
generally (but not
always) called for jumbo shrimp, olive oil, garilc and parsley.
"Preparation varies. The methods of cooking, however, varied from boiling to broiling and
from frying to
baking. Some called for shelling the shrimp in advance; others recommended serving the dish only
to
"people who are willing to remove the shells at table." Some called for marinating the shellfish in
advance;
others did not. One even introduced a bread crumb topping. All this would seem to point to the
fact that
scampi is not, after all, a particular method of preparing shrimp. Some cookbooks and most
persons
consulted agreed with this and generally (but, again, not always) deveined scampi as shellfish
native to the
Adriatic (notably the Bay of Venice) that are not available in this country. But the specifications
of the
shellfish varied from that of a small shrimp to that of a lobster tail and a flavor from similar to
Mexican
shrimp to unlike anything else. The most authoritative answer came from Mrs. Hedy
Giusti-Lanham, who
styled herself "practically a scampo--alothough not quite as pink as I should be--because the best
ones
come from Venice, where I am from."
"Plump little beasts. "What are scampi?" she asked rhetorically..."The are like shrimps in this
country,
only smaller. The larger ones, like the jumbo here, are called scampi imperali; but the normal
scampi are
quite small. The are plump little beasts and are quite round when they sit on the plate, because the
tails
curl in close." "No one where I come from would put a heavy sauce on top, like in shrimp
cocktail." she
commented. "They are usually thrown into heavy boiling water, then deveined and shelled and
served
lukewarm. Or they may be broiled by basting the shells with oil and putting them under the broiled
or over
charcoal and basting them while they cook. The shells get very dark and crack when the inside is
done.
They are served with their shells on. You put a little olive oil and a little lemon on them as you
take them out
of the shells, and a little pepper--but no salt. Garlic? Oh, no, no, no. They have such flavor that
anything
else would be an insult." Asked whether there was a great difference between scampi and
American-style
shrimp, Mrs. Guisti-Lanhan replied: "They are a similar type of person but the accent is very
different."
"Scampi. A Venetian term, dating in English print to 1920, that isn America refers to shrimp
cooked in garlic,
butter, lemon juice, and white wine, commonly listed on menus as "shrimp scampi." The true
scampo
(scampi is the plural) of Italy is a small lobster or prawn, of the family Nephropidae, which in
America is
called a "lobsterette.""
"Scampi. We seem not to have discovered this simple Italian way of cooking shrimp until after
World War II.
Certainly scampi weren't familiar beyond big metropolitan areas."
"In the latter part of the 20th century the Norway lobster became a standard item on British
menus, usually
under the Italian name scampi. This reflects the fact that Italians in the Adriatic had for long
appreciated it,
and had many recipes for scampi cooked in this or that way, which became famouns to
tourists."
"Scampi is the plural of the word scampo, 'shrimp', a word of unkown origin. It started to filter
into English in
the 1920s, but it was not really until the 1950s and 1960s that it began to make headway. This
coincided
with a boom in popularity of a dish consisting of large prawn tails coated in breadcrumbs and
deep-fried:
scampi and chips became a staple on cafe and restaurant menus. Soon scampi had well and truly
ousted
the native English Dublin Bay prawns."
Oysters in America
"In Britain, oysters have been eaten, and undoubtedly loved, since prehistoric times. There were a
particular favorite of the Romans. In fifteenth-century London, oysters were "plentiful, very
popular and on the whole inexpensive."...a sixteenth-century traveler to England said that the
oysters "which were cried in every street" were better than any he had seen in Italy. Oysters were
brined by seventeenth-century husbandmen, who bought them fresh to insure quality. The shells,
rich in lime, were used as fertilizer...As with other fish in medieval and early modern England,
oysters were often baked in heavily spiced pies, or stewed. Like other small fish, fresh oysters were
sometimes fried immediately to prevent spoilage...Despite being inexpensive, oysters were enjoyed
by all classes...Oyster-eating quickly became an American pastime...Oysters were served in
colonial taverns, along with the usual tavern fare of fowl, beefsteaks, ham, and hot bread...Oysters
only became more popular in the nineteenth century...Oyster houses, or saloons as they were often
called, specialized in quick, fresh oyster meals. Richard Pillsbury states that they "began appearing
in the late eighteenth century as some of the first freestanding restaurants in the nation." Advertised
with red and white balloon-shaped signs, they were popular in every coastal city, frequented by
lunchtime crowds of men. Some oyster saloons did set aside curtained booths or special rooms for
women and faminlies. Commercial oyster eateries were organized along class lines...Nineteeth-century New England cookbooks abounded with "escaloped" oysters, oyster sauce, oyster soup, pie,
and patties, stewed oysters, roasted oysters, and fried oysters. Nut oysters were also used in more
esoteric recipes. For instance, Mrs. Lee offered "Oyster Attlets," which was a sweetbread, cut into
small pieces, a slice or two of bacon, and oysters, seasoned with parsley, shallot, thyme, salt and
pepper, then skewered, covered with bread crumbs, and broiled or fried. Oysters also became a
condiments...Yankee tavern owners went to great lenghts to have supplies of oysters on hand
throughout the winter months. In late autumn they stocked their cellars with oysters...burying them
in beds of damp sea sand mixed with cornmeal. To theel their buried treasures alive, they watered
the beds twice a week. The mollusks would be dug out of the pile as needed. Oyster pies and patties
were favorite ways of serving cellar oysters, perhaps becuase oysters that ascended from the tavern
depths were not as fresh as those from the briny deep...At midcentury, oyster parties were the rage
among New England aristocracy, as they were in every sophistiscated metropolis...Like many
popular foods, oysters were also considered medicinal...Despite the low price of oysters, recipes for
mock oysters, made of salsify, the "vegetable oyster," as Lydia Maria Child called it, or of corn,
often seasoned with mace, appeared in cookbooks throughout the nineteenth century...The oyster's
association with New England, while never exclusive to the region, was strong enough to endur in
nostalgic cookbooks."
"Oysters have long been considered a delicacy and have been cultivated for at least two thousand
years. The American Indans of the coastal regions enjoyed them as a staple part of their diet, and
the earliest European explorers marveled at oysters that were up to a foot in length. Cultivation
began soon afterward, and Virginia and Maryland have waged "oyster wars" over offshore beds
since 1632. Although the oyster may have been an expensive delicacy in Europe, it was a common
item on eveyone's table in America. Bt the eighteenth century the urban poor were sustained by
little more than bread and oysters. Coonia citizens dined regularly on chicken and oysters, and the
mollusk was an economical ingredient for stuffing fowl and other meats. By the middle of the next
century English traveler Charles Mackay could write in his book Life and Liberty in America
(1859) that "the rich consume oysters and Champagne; the poorer classes consume oysters and
large bier, and that is one of the principal social differences between the two sections of the
community." Americans were oyster mad in the nineteenth century, and as people moved and
settled westward, the demand for the bivalves in the interior regions grew accordingly. This
demand was met by shipping oysters by stagecoach on the "Oyster Line" from Baltimore to Ohio,
followed after the opening of the Erie Canal in 1825 by canal boats laden with oysters. Canned or
pickled varieties were available as far west as St. Louis, Missouri, by 1856...Every coastal city had
its oyster vendors on the streets, and "oyster saloons," "cellars," or "houses" were part of urban
life...Throughout the middle of the century oysters remained plentiful. Even when other foodstuffs
were scarce in the Civil War, Union soldiers in Savannah sated their hunger with buckets full of
oysters brought to them by the slaves they had liberated...Nowhere was the oyster more appreciated
than in New Orleans, where several classic oyster recipes...were created...The demand for oysters
was so high that by the 1880s the eastern beds began to be depleted."
"The changing role of that oysters played in American cuisine, from the wigwams of the
Wampanoags to the famous New York City oyster saloons and gradually to the dining rooms from
Boston to San Francisco, is a saga that progressed from sheer necessity to serendipity. The Indians
taught the colonists to harvest and cook oysters in a stew that staved off hunger, and in 1610 food
shortages in Jamestown, Virginia, led settlers to travel to the mouth of the James River, where
oysters sustained them. Two centuries later, a feature of the American diet became a between-meal
snack at a vendor's stand, and a dozen or two half shells became a prelude to a more substantial
oyster pie or, on the West Coast, an oyster omelet known as Hangtown fry. Another dish utilizeing
the mollusk was roasted fowl stuffed with oysters. By 1840, annual shipments of oysters from the
Chesapeake Bay to Philadelphia had reached four thousand tons. By 1859, residents in New York
City spent more on oysters than on butchers' meat. The oyster craze of the nineteenth century
spread across the country by stagecoach, by boat when the Erie Canal opened to barges, and by rail
when the railroads traveled westward. By the 1880s the demand for oysters was so great that the
beds that stretched along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts began to be depeleted..."
About oyster stuffing.
About culinary research & about copyright.
---An A to Z of Food & Drink, John Ayto [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 2002 (p.
284)
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999
(p. 747)
---Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, John F. Mariani [Lebhar-Friedman:New
York] 1999 (p. 186-7)
---The Encyclopedia of Fish Cookery, A.J. McClane [Holt, Rinehart and Winston:New
York] 1977 (p. 177-9)
---ibid (p. 105)
Apicius (1st-4th century AD) includes recipes for broiled lobster [398], boiled lobster with cumin
sauce
[399], Another lobster dish--mince of the tail meat [400], boiled lobster (with pepper, cumin, rue,
honey
vinegar, broth and oil) [401] and lobster with wine [402].
---Apicius Cookery and Dining in Imperial Rome, edited and translated by Joseph
Dommers
Vehling [General Publishing:Ontario] 1977 (p. 210-211)
Platina offers instructions for cooking sea lobsters.
---On right Pleasure and Good Health, Platina, critical edition and translation by Mary Ella
Milham
[Medieval & Renaissance Texts & Studies:Tempe AZ] 1998 (p. 449)
Robert May's Accomplist Cook includes these lobster recipes: To Stew Lobsters, To Hash
Lobsters,
To Boil Lobsters to eat cold in the common way, To keep Lobsters a quarter of a year very good,
To Farce
Lobster, To marinate Lobsters, To broil Lobsters, To broil Lobsters on paper, To roast Lobsters,
To fry
Lobsters, To
bake Lobsters to be eaten hot, To pickle Lobsters, To jelly Lobsters, Craw-fish, or Prawns.
---The Accomplisht Cook, Robert May, facsimile 1685 edition [Prospect Books:Devon]
2000 (p. 401-409)
Hannah Glasse was one of the most popular cookbook authors on the 18th century. Her lobster
recipes
included: buttered, fine dish of, in fish sauce, pie, potted and roast.
---The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy, Hannah Glasse [Prospect Books:Devon]
1995 (p. 61,
94-5, 115, 117)
Eliza Acton wrote cookbooks for the new Victorian middle class. Her lobster recipes include: to
boil,
boudinettes of, buttered, cutlets, cutlets, Indian, fricasseed, hot, patties, potted, salad,
sausages.
---Modern Cookery of Private Families, Eliza Acton [Southover Press:East Sussex] 1994
(p. 91-4,
133,136)
Mrs. D. A. Lincon authored the first Boston Cooking School Cook Book. Her index lists:
Lobster
bisque, chowder, creamed, croquettes, curried, cutlets, devilled, plain, salad, sauce, scalloped,
soup, and
stewed. She also include instructions for choosing and opening lobsters. Her book is online,
full-text.
---The American Century Cookbook, Jean Anderson [Clarkson Potter:New York] 1997 (p. 117)
[NOTE: In fact, the oldest recipe we have specficially titled "Lobster Fra Diavolo" comes from a Long Island cookbook, c. 1939. See below.]
---Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, John F. Mariani [Lebhar-Friedman:New York] 1999 (p. 187)
"One of the best restaurants in the city specializing in Italian food--and one of the oldest, since it was founded in 1908, is Enrico & Paglieri, 66 West Eleventh Stree,
in Greenwich Village...Back in the days when Enrico and his partner, Paul Paglieri, who died many years ago, started their venture, the menu seldom varied from
minestrone, lobster diavolo and chicken. This was a concession to the customers of the time, who clamored for those dishes, Enrico explains, and how, incidentally
paid only 55 cents for a complete meal, including a bottle of wine."
---News of Food: Italian Meals Served in Outdoor Setting in Restaurant Opened in 'Village' in 1908, New York Times, June 24, 1946 (p. 34)
[NOTE: Is it possible Enrico & Paglieri's
was referring to French cuisine when he said his customers were clamoring for *this* type of food? James Beard's classic
1961 recipe (see below) offers a compelling argument.]
---Traditional Recipes of the Provinces of France, selected by Curnonsky, translated and edited by Edwin Lavin
[Les Productions de Paris:Paris] 1961 (p. 24)
"Lobster a L'Americaine
Cut some broiled lobster tails into scollops 1/4 inch thick; set them in a circle in a silver casserole;
Make some sauce as follows:
Wash and chop some shalots; fry them in butter for two minutes; moisten with French white wine; and cook them;
The add equal quantities of Espagnole Sauce, and Tomato Puree, and a little Cayenne pepper; and reduce the sauce for five
minutes;
Fill the centre of the casserole with the fleish of the claws cut in small dice, and mixed in some of the sauce; pour the
remainder of the sauce over the scollops; put the casserole in the oven for ten minutes, to warm the lobster; and serve."
---The Royal Cookery Boook, Jules Gouffe, translated by Alphone Gouffe [Sampson Low, Son, and Marston:London] 1869
(p. 446)
Lobster a l'Americaine, Boston Cooking School Cook Book, Mrs. D.A.
Lincoln
"Pollo al Diavolo (Chicken Devil Style)
It is called this because it is supposed to be seasoned with strong cayenne pepper and served in a very spicy sauce, so that whoever
eats it feels his mouth on fire and is tempted to send both the chicken and whoever cooked it to the devil. I shall give a simplr,
more civilized way to prepare it: Take a cockerel or young chicken, remove the head, neck and feet, and, after cutting it open
all the way down the front, flatten it out as much as you can. Wash and dry it well with a kitchen towel, then place it on
the grill. When it begins to brown, turn it over, brush with melted butter or olive oil and season with salt and pepper. When the
other side begins to brown, turn the chicken over again and repeat the procedure. Continue to baste and season as necessary until
done. Cayenne pepper is sold as red powder, which comes from England in little glass bottles."
---Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well, Pellegrino Artusi, originally c. 1891, translated by Murtha Baca adn Stephen
Sartarelli [Marsilio Publshers:New York] 1997 (p. 377)
"Lobster, American Style.
procure two good sized freshly boiled lobsters and split them, removing all of the meat very carefully, and cut it up into pieces
about an inch in length; and have in readiness a pan on top of a range half full of good olive oil, and when the oil has become
very hot add pieces of the lobster. Chop very fine one peeled onion, one green pepper, and half a peeled clove, some sound
garlic, place it with the loster and cook for five minutes, stirring all the time; season with a pinch of salt and half a
saltspoonful of red pepper, to which add half a wineglassful of white wine. After two minutes' reduction add one gill of tomato
sauce and a medium sized peeled tomato, cut into small dice. Continue cooking for ten minutes, gently stirring the while, then
pour the whole into a hot dish or tureen and serve."
---The Cook Book by "Oscar" of the Waldorf, Oscar Tschirky [Saalfield Publsihing Company:Chicago] 1908 (p. 100)
Chicken With Sauce Piquante (Pollo
alla Diavolo), Italian Cookbook, Maria Gentile, published in New York City (quite possibly the inspiration?)
"Lobster Diavalo, Renato
1 Lobster
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon parsley, minced
1 clove garlic
1/2 cup Italian peeled tomatoes
Oregano (Italian thyme)
Plunge the live lboster in salted furiously boiling water for 15 minutes; drain. Pick out meat, cook for 3 to 4 minutes in the olive oil. Add then the parsley, garlic,
tomatoes and oregan; let simmer for 6 to 8 minutes. Serve piping hot."
---Long Island Seafood Cook Book, J. George Frederick, recipes edited by Jean Joyce [Business Bourse:New York] 1939 (p. 205)
"How shall this delicately flavored crustacean come to dinner?..Italian restaurants in several sections of this city, including a favorite, Da Cinta, have convinced us
that hot peppers and plum tomatoes, garlic and olive oil, also are possible flavorings. In other words, if there are plenty of finger bowls, napkins and generous bibs,
and if the day is not too hot for this spicy dish, then why not lobster fra diavolo?
1/4 cup olive oil
1 clove garlic, chopped
2 cups canned plum tomatoes
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
1 teaspoon oregano
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper seeds
Salt and pepper to taste
3 one-pound ("chicken") lobsters
1. Heat oil and brown garlic in it. Add other ingredients, excluding lobster. Simmer about ten minutes.
2. Place lobsters on their backs and with a sharp knife cut in half lengthwise from head to tail. Spread open. remove small sac just back of the head. Crack large
claws.
3. Arrange lobsters flat in casserole, flesh side up. Pour tomato sauce over them. Bake at 400 degrees F. fifteen to twenty minutes. Yield: three to four portions."
---"News of Food: Fresh Lobsters Plentiful but not Cheap," Jane Nickerson, New York Times, May 26, 1949 (p. 37)
"Lobster Alla Diavolo
2 medium lobsters (boiled)
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 cup vinegar
1/2 teaspoon pepper
5 red pepper seeds (optional)
1 teaspoon meat extract, dissolved in 1 cup boiling water
1 teaspoon tomato paste
1 tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon flour
Cut lobster in half lengthwise and place shell side down in baking dish. Sprinkle with oil and butter and bake in hot oven 20 minutes. Serve with sauce made in the
following manner: Place vinegar, pepper and red pepper seeds together in saucepan and simmer until vinegar is reduced to half quantity. Add meat extract in hot
water and tomato paste to vinegar and cook 10 minutes. Mix together butter and flour, blending well, and add slowly to sauce. Mix well, add mustard and pour
over baked lobsters. Serves 2 to 4."
---The Talisman Cook Book, Ada Boni, translated and augmented by Matilde Pei, special edition printed for Ronzoni Macaroni Co., Inc [Crown Publishers:New York] 1955 (p. 53)
"Lobster Fra Diavolo (Serves 4)
2 2-pound lobsters
1/2 cup of olive oil
4 tablespoons of chopped parsley (Italian parsley, if available)
1 1/2 teaspoons of oregano
Pinch of cloves
Pinch of mace
Salt and pepper
1 medium onion, chopped
1 clove of garlic, chopped
2 1/2 cups of canned tomatoes
1/3 cup of cognac
Prepare the lobsters as for Lobster a l'Americane...Heat the olive oil in a large kettle and add the lobster pieces. Using tongs, toss them about in the hot oil until the
shells are red and the meat seared. Lower the heat and let the lobster simmer gently for about 10 minutes. Add the chopped parsley, the oregano, the cloves, mace
and salt and pepper to taste. Peel and chop the onion and garlic very fine and add these. Add the canned tomatoes. Mix these ingredients, cover the kettle and
cook for about 15 minutes, stirring frequently to be sure the flavorings blend. Place the lobster in the center of a large heat-proof planter and surround it with
mounds of rice. Pour the sauce over the lobster and pour cognac over this. Ignite and blaze."
---The James Beard Cookbook, in collaboration with Isabel E. Callvert [E.P. Dutton:New York] 1961 (p. 149)
This is a famous, classic seafood dish served in Paris and in outstanding French restaurants in New York. It's not easy to prepare but the finished product is elegant.
1 2-pound lobsters (live)
2/3 cup of olive oil
4 tablspoons of butter
1 medium onion
6 shallots or small green onions
1 clove of garlic
8 medium-sized ripe tomatoes
4 tablespoons of chopped parsley
1 1/2 tablespoons of chopped fresh, or 1 1/2 teaspoons of dried, tarragon
1 1/2 teaspon of thyme
1 bay leaf
2 cups of dry white wine
4 tablespoons of tomato puree
Salt, pepper, cayenne
1/3 cup of cognac
Kill the lobsters, then split and clean according to the directions under Broiled Lobster...The remove the claws and cut the tails in sections, cutting through where the
shells are jointed. Wash well. Heat the olive oil in a very large kettle and when hot add the pieces of lobster in shell. Toss them about in a hot oil, using a pair of
tongs, until the shells are colored red and the lobster meat is seared. Remove the lobster pieces to a hot platter and add the butter to the oil in a kettle. Peel and
chop the onion, shallots and garlic. Saute in the hot butter and oil until lightly colored. Peel, seed and chop the tomatoes and add these to the onion mixture. Add
the parsley, tarragon, thyme, bay leaf and wine and simmer gently for 30 minutes. Add the tomato puree and season to taste with salt, pepper and cayenne. Pour
the cognac over the lobster pieces and ignite to blaze. Then return the lobster to the kettle to cook in the sauce, cover tightly and simmer for 20 minutes. Serve
over rice."
---ibid (p. 148)
Allow a 1 1/2- to 2 -pound lobster for each person. Have your fish dealer split and clean them for you (but you must cook them very soon after) or do it yourself.
To clean: place the live lobster on a work board or table and using a heavy, sharp knife and mallet, insert the point of the knife between the body and tail shells and
drive it through to sever the spinal cord. When the lobster stops moving, turn it over on its back and split it lengthwise from thead to tail, cutting it into two parts.
Remove the stomach and intestinal tract but leave the grayish colored liver and the row, or "coral," if there is any. Brush the flesh of each half with plenty of melted
butter and broil in a heated broiler for 12 to 15 minutes. Baste frequently with additional butter as the lobster cooks or it will dry out. Season to taste with salt and
pepper and serve with melted butter and lemon wedges."
---ibid (p. 147)
---Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, John F. Mariani [Lebhar-Friedman:New
York] 1999 (p.
187-8)
2. Lobster rolls, as we know them today, are probably a 20th century invention because they
require soft hot dog buns.
There seem to be two primary versions of the lobster roll: one is a mayonnaise-based lobster salad
sandwich and the other is simply composed of hearty chunks of fresh lobster meat drenched in
butter. Both are traditionally served in long (hot-dog type) buns which may be toasted. Pickles
and chips are the usual accompaniments. Both are considered standard menu items with
shore-based restaurants, diners and lobster shacks (inexpensive family-style outdoor eateries).
---"On a roll," David Shribman, Fortune, 8.13.2001 (p. 198)
---Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, John F. Mariani [Lebhar-Friedman:New
York] 1999 (p. 188)
---"Fare of the Country: In Maine, Lobster on a Roll," Nancy Jenkins, New York Times,
July 14, 1985 (section 10, p.6)
"Curried Lobster
Take the meat from a medium sized boiled lobster and cut in small dice. Put into the chafing
dish...one rounded tablespoonful of butter. When hot add a tablespoonful minched onion, and
cook until it reaches the yellow stage, but not a moment longer. Mix one rounded tablespoonful
flour with a teaspoonful (or more, according to taste) of curry powder and stir into the hot butter.
Add a cup hot milk or thick cream and stir until it thickens and is smooth and creamy. Add two
cups of the diced lobster meat, and as soon as thoroughly heated serve on delicately browned
slices of toast crisped crackers."
---New York Evening Post Cook Book, Emma Paddock Telford [New York:1908] (p.
20)
---Larousse Gastronomique, completely revised and updated edition [Clarkson
Potter:New York]
2001 (p. 1208)
---An A to Z of Food and Drink, John Ayto [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 2002 (p.
342)
Split the lobster in half lengthways, season and gently grill, then remove the flesh from the shell
and cut into
fairly thick slices on the slant. Place some Sauce Creme finished with a little English mustard in
the bottom
of the two half shells, replace the slices of lobster neatly on top and coat with the sauce. Glaze
lightly in a
hot oven or under the salamander."
---The Complete Guide to the Art of Modern Cookery, Escoffier, 1903 edition, translated
by H.L
Cracknell and R.J. Kaufmann, [Wiley:New York] 1979 (p. 249)
---Food in the Ancient World from A to Z, Andrew Dalby [Routledge:London] 2003 (p.
105)
---Food and Drink in Britain: From the Stone Age to the 19th Century, C. Anne Wilson [Academy Chicago:Chicago 1991(p. 17)
---Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, Andrew F. Smith editor [Oxford
University Press:New York] 2004, Volume 1 (p. 485-6)
---American Food: The Gastronomic Story, Evan Jones, Second edition [Vintage
Books:New York] 1981 (p. 133-5)
[1911] Crabs & canned crab meat,The Grocer's Encyclopedia, Artemis Ward
Crab cakes, as we Americans know them today, are most often associated with Maryland and the
Chesapeake Bay area.
They are considered a popular traditional specialty. How did this recipe evolve? Food historians
tell us the practice of
making minced meat cakes/patties (seafood/landfood) is ancient. Minces mixed with
bread/spices/fillers came about for two reasons: taste and economy. Primary evidence suggests
recipes for crab-cake types dishes were introduced to the colonies by English settlers. About rissoles and croquettes.
A survey of historic American cookbooks confirms crab recipes were popular from colonial days
forward. In the 19th century crab recipes proliferated. Many of these combined bread crumbs and
spices; some were fried. These recipes are variously called "to stew crabs," "to fry crabs," "to
dress crab," "crab patties" or "crab croquettes." Sometimes they stand alone, others they are
noted as possible variations under similar fish/shellfish recipes. The phrase "crab cake" appears to
be a 20th century appellation. Notes here:
---Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, John F. Mariani [Lebhar Friedman:New
York] 1999 (p. 103)
"To fry Crabs
Take the meat out of the great claws being first boiled, flour and fry them and take the meat out
of the body strian half if it for sauce, and the other half to fry, and mix it with grated bread,
almond paste, nutmed, salt, and yolks of eggs, fry in clarified butter, being first dipped in batter,
put in a spoonful at a time; then make sauce with wine-vinegar, butter, or juyce of orange, and
grated nutmeg, beat up the butter thick, and put some of the meat that was strained into the
sauce, warm it and put it in a clean dish, lay the meat on the sance, slices of orange over all, and
run it over with beaten butter, fryed parasley, round the dish brim, and the little legs round the
meat."
---The Accomplist Cook, Robert May, facsimile 1685 edition [Prospect Books:Devon]
2000 (p. 412)
[NOTE: This book contains several crab-cake type recipes.]
"To Dress a Crab.
Having taken out the Meat, and cleaned it from the Skin, put it into a Stew-pan, with half a Pint
of White Wine, a little Nutmeg, Pepper, and Salt over a slow Fire; throw in a few Crumbs of
Bread, beat up one Yolk of an Egg with one Spoonful of Vinegar, throw it in, and shake the
Sauce-pan round a Minute, then serve it up on a Plate."
---The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy, By a Lady (Hannah Glasse) facsimile reprint
with essays [Prospect Books:Devon] 1995 (p. 95)
"To dress a Crab.
Boil the crab well in sat and water, and when cold break it up, mix the meat in the inside of the
shell well together, break the large claws, take out the meat, and cut it fine, lay it over the
shell-meat as handsome as you can in the shell, put it in the dish, split the chine in two, and put at
each
end, crack the small claws and put them round; mix some oil and vinegar, a little mustard, pepper,
and salt, and put it over the meat in the shell; garnish with parsley."
---The New Art of Cookery According to Present Practice, Richard Briggs [Printed for
W. Spotswood, R. Campbell and B. Johnson:Philadelphia] 1792 (p. 99)
Crab and Lobster Cutlets, Jennie June's American Cookery Book, Jane Cunningham Croly
"Soft-Shell Crabs.
Lift the shell at both sides and remove the spongy substance found on the back. The pull off the
"apron," which will be found on the under side, and to which is attached a substance like that
removed from the back. Now wipe the crabs, and dip them in beaten egg, and then in fine bread
or cracker crumbs. Fry in boiling fat from eight to ten minutes, the time depending upon the size
of the crabs. Serve with Tartare sauce. Or, the egg and bread crumbs may be omitted. Season
with salt and ayenne, and fry as before. When broiled, crabs are cleaned, and seasoned with salt
and cayenne; are then dropped into boiling water for one minute, take up, and broiled over a hot
fire for eight minutes. They are served with maitre d'hotel butter or Tartare sauce."
---Miss Parloa's New Cook Book and Marketing Guide, [Estes & Lauriat:Boston MA]
1880 (p. 129)
Crab croquettes, White House Cook Book, Fannie Lemira Gillette, 1887
Crab Croquettes
These are precisely the same as lobster cutlets. Form into pyramid shaped croquettes, dip in egg
and bread crumbs, and fry in hot fat."
---Mrs. Rorer's New Cook Book, Sarah Tyson Rorer [Arnold and
Company:Philadelphia] 1902 (p. 121)
"Crab Croquettes
1 cup milk
2 tablespoons flour
2 eggs
2 heaping cups of cooked crab meat
1/2 small onion
Cracker crumbs
Salt and pepper to taste.
Blend the flour wtih a little cold milk, mix in the yolks of the eggs and the salt, pepper, and the
little bit of onion, then add the milk, and put on the fire to cook slowly. Stir constantly. When it
begins to thicken, add the crab meat and last of all the beaten whites of eggs. Cool and shape into
croquettes, dip in cracker crumbs and fry in deep lard. Decorate the dish with parsley and cubes of
lemon."
---Old Southern Receipts, Mary D. Pretlow [Robert M. McBride:New York] 1930 (p.
23-4)
"Crab Cakes Baltimore.
Take one pound of crab meat for each four crab cakes. Put crab meat into mixing bowl, add one
and one-half teaspoons salt, and two teaspoons white pepper, one teaspoon English dry mustard
and two teaspoons Worcestershire sauce, one yolk of egg and one soup spoon cream sauce or
mayonnaise, one teaspoon chopped parsley. Mix well, making four crab cakes, press hard
together, dip into flour, then into beaten eggs, then into bread crumbs. Fry them in hot grease
pan.--Mr. W.L. Jackson, Managing Director, Lord Baltimore Hotel, Baltimore."
---Eat, Drink & Be Merry in Maryland: An Anthology From a Great Tradition, compiled
by Frederick Philip Stieff [G.P. Putnam's Sons:New York] 1932 (p. 44)
"Crab-Flake Cakes (Baltimore)
2 cups crab meat
1 cup milk
yolk 1 egg
2 tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon onion juice
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
salt and pepper
bread crumbs
rich cream sauce
Melt the butter in a saucepan and add to it the flour; when well mixed, add the milk gradually,
stirring constantly until smooth. Add the egg yolk beaten up with Worcestershire sauce and onion
juice, and the crab flakes, seasoning with salt and pepper. As soon as this mixture is cool enough,
put it in the icebox to get very cold. Form into flat cakes; dredge in finely sifted bread crumbs and
fry on both sides in either lard or butter. Serve on a hot platter with Rich Cream sauce poured
over the cakes. Crab meat used must be from the body part of the crab, and must be very carefully
picked over."
---The National Cookbook: A Kitchen Americana, Shiela Hibben [Harper &
Brothers:New York] 1932 (p. 112)
"Chesapeake Bay Crab Cakes.
1 pound cooked blue-claw crab meat
1/2 teaspoon (dry) mustard
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce (optional)
dash cayenne pepper
1 slice bread, wet, squeezed out, and crumbled
dry bread crumbs
Combine the crab meat with the mustard, mayonnaise, egg, salt, Worcestershire, cayenne, and
bread. Shape into 8 cakes and roll in bread crumbs. In a heavy frying pan heat the oil until barely
smoking and cook cakes at moderate heat until brown on one side, then turn carefully and brown
the other side. (4 servings)"
---The American Regional Cookbook, Nancy & Arthur Hawkins [Prentice
Hall:Englewood Cliffs NJ] 1976 (p. 48)
---Food in the Ancient World from A to Z, Andrew Dalby [Routledge:London] 2003 (p.
301)
---Food: An Authoritative and Visual History and Dictionary of the Foods of the World,
Waverley
Root [Smithmark:New York] 1980 (p. 460)
---Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, John F. Mariani [Lebhar-Friedman:New
York] 1999 (p.
294)
The difference between these two items appears to be contextual. There are biologic, semantic and legal definitions. General descriptions here:
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 2nd edition, 2006 (p. 720)
---The Encyclopedia of Fish Cookery, A.J. McClane [Holt, Rinehart and Winston:New York] 1977 (p. 247-8)
---Encyclopedia of American Food& Drink, John F. Mariani [Lebhar-Friedman:New York] 1999 (p. 255)
---Oxford Companion to American Food and Drink, Andrew F. Smith editor [Oxford University Press:New York] 2007 (p. 536)
Although people have been combining fish with spicy sauces since ancient times, the "shrimp
cocktail," as
we Americans know it today, belongs to the late 19th/early 20th century. A survey of American
cookbooks
confirms the combination of shellfish (most typically oysters) and a spicy tomato-based sauce
(usually
ketchup spiced with horseradish, tabasco, and cayenne) served in tiny cups as appetizers was
extremely
popular in the early part of the 20th century. There are several variations on this recipe.
Sau-Sea brand shrimp cocktail was the brand we all remember. Individual portions packed in thick, reusable glasses. Some
of us still have them! About the
company & Product
photo
[1909]
"Shrimps in Tomato Catsup
Chevrettes a la Sauce Tomate.
100 River Shrimp
2 Tablespoonfuls of Tomato Catsup
3 Hard-Boiled Eggs, Salt, Pepper and Cayenne to Taste.
Boil the shrimp and pick. Put them into a salad dish. Season well with black pepper and salt and a
dash of Cayenne. Then add two tablespoonfuls of tomato catsup to every half pint of shrimps.
Garnish with lettuce leaves and hard-boiled egg and serve."
---Picayune's Creole Cook Book (second edition), facsimile reprint 1909 edition [Dover
Publications:New York] 1971 (p. 67)
Savory Cocktails
Savoury cocktails are usually made of raw fish, although combinations of raw and smoked fish are
sometimes used, and in rare instances good-sized bits of broiled mushrooms and sweetbreads are
used instead of the fish. These savoury cocktails should be properly served in cocktail glasses,
which are in turn imbedded in cracked ice-soup plates or the new glass oyster plates being used
for the service. If the cocktail is mixed with the sauce in the glass, a bit of parsley may top it, or
pieces green may be placed, wreath fashion, around the cocktails. If you do not posses cocktail
glasses, hollowed-out green peppers or tomatoes may be used, or the cocktail sauce with the
savoury ingredient may be thoroughly chilled and served in ordinary small cocktail glasses. In this
case the green is placed at the base.
1/2 tablespoonful tomato catsup or chili sauce
1/2 tablespoonful lemon juice
2 drops tabasco sauce
1/4 teaspoonful celery salt
3 drops Worcestershire sauce
Combine the ingredients in the order given, mixing them well. If desired, a half teaspoonsful of
olive oil may be added....Lobster, Shrimp or Crabmeat Cocktail: Allow to each person one-third
cupful of diced lobster meat, diced cooked or canned shrimps, or shredded crabmeat; combine
with cocktail sauce and serve as directed."
---Mrs. Allen n Cooking, Menus, Service, Ida C. Bailely Allen [Doubleday, Doran &
Comapny:Garden City NY] 1924 (p. 112-3)
[NOTE: This book also contains recipes for Oyster Cocktail, Clam Cocktail and Sea-Food
Cocktail. It also provides instructions for Frozen Fish Cocktails.]
---New York Times, December 15, 1926 (p. 30)
---"Food News: Italian Ways With Scampi," Nan Ickeringill, New York Times, November
17, 1964 (p.
44)
---Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, John F. Mariani [Lebhar-Friedman:New
York] 1999 (p.
286)
---American Century Cookbook: The Most Popular Recipes of the 20th Century, Jean
Anderson
[Clarkson Potter:New York] 1997 (p. 139)
[NOTE: The earliest reference to shrimp scampi in the New York Times is a restaurant
advertisement published May 9, 1956 for The Tenakill Restaurant in Englewood NJ]
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p.
541)
---An A-Z of Food & Drink, John Ayto [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 2003 (p. 303-4)
---America's Founding Food: The Story of New England Cooking, Keith Stavely & Kathleen
Fitzgerald [University of North Carolina Press:Chapel Hill] 2004 (p.104-8)
---Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, John F. Mariani [Lebhar-Friedman:New York] 1999
(p. 226-7)
---Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, Andrew F. Smith, editor in chief [Oxford
University Press:New York] 2004, Volume 2 (p. 224-5)
About these notes: Food history can be a complicated topic. These notes are not meant
to be a
comprehensive treatment of the subject, but a summary of salient points supported with culinary
evidence. If you
need more information we suggest you start by asking your librarian to help you find the books
and articles cited in these notes. Article databases are good for locating current recipes, consumer
trends, and new products.
Have questions? Ask!
Research conducted by Lynne
Olver, editor The Food
Timeline. About this site.