When In Connecticut…

…do as Connecticutians? Connecticuters? Ex-New Yorkers?

We returned just a day or so ago from our annual visit to the East Coast.  And, I do mean the coast.  I consider myself lucky to have grown up knowing well the taste of salt water on my lips, and intend to raise my children knowing the same.  In addition to the oceanic brine, this is also the trip where we bring seafood proper to our lips.   Although it is possible to get mediocre fish out east, I’ll argue it’s very, very difficult to get very good seafood in the Midwest, and impossible to get truly fresh.  Truly fresh, perhaps even something you caught yourself, is bright to almost shining, so firm it might still be alive, and so full of vigor that the salt of the ocean is still in the flesh.  As food it is incredibly full of vitality – and worth the wait; so generally I abstain from seafood in the Midwest and indulge on the coast.

Highlights of our trip were:

Excellent diver scallops seared in butter and eaten hot out of the pan.

Atlantic halibut that just flaked into meaty chunks that I cried for and ate with my fingers.

Excellent Fish and Chips of cod from Captain Scott’s Lobster Dock in New London. Their batter really does rock, and the fish inside steams inside its crispy jacket, as it should.

Long Island Sound steamers that we dug from the sand ourselves.

Digging for steamers

River's got one!

Catching striped bass, but not a ‘keeper’ that I would have filleted and pan roasted.  As you peel the flakes of roasted flesh, bursts of salt water steam escape from between each layer.  You inhale them and then eat the thick flake, again with your hands is best. Next year…

Hittin' the falling tide with the boy in tow

Zak's got one on the line

Pretty, but not a keeper.

And, the capo di tutti capi: steamed lobster.

As a youth, lobster was my bar none favorite food.  I swear I could have eaten a ten pounder myself.  I consider getting all the meat out intact, a point of pride.  Sharing with my children the unique, transformative, visceral, tactile delight that is cooking and eating lobster is one of the operational imperatives of our trip each year.  It is a comprehensive experience.  First you must pick out your live bugs from a tank, or better from a lobsterman himself.  Then take them home live and study them, observe their bluish-black and green exoskeleton, their beady eyes, formidable claws, and ubiquitous spines.  Look at the swimmerets and tail fins.  Point out the mandibles and maxilla that bring food to these crustaceans.  Now, prepare the water.

Steaming is best.  And easiest.  Place 1 inch of water in a pot large enough to hold your lobsters.  Place a steamer basket inside, or just use a bowl with a plate place atop it, so long as there is space between the edge of the plate and the sidewall of the pot.  Bring the water to a boil.  Place the lobsters upon the plate being careful to not tip the plate and lobsters into the water.   Cover the pot and cook for 8 minutes per pound.  So, a pot of 1 ½ pound lobsters should take about 12 minutes.  Incomparable.  Accept nothing else and just hold out for the one true thing when you finally get there.

My only confession – we did bring hand rolled butter from Wisconsin to dip that lobster into.  The best deserves the best.  Honestly, we should have brought some beer too.