Any time I hear the words “poor man’s” anything, I’m always a bit skeptical. I am a big fan of real lobster, which is one of the most unique, tasty, and expensive creatures from the sea. The thought of recreating the taste and texture of lobster with fish is an intriguing concept indeed.
If you do a search online, you will find hundreds of accounts of people who have gone to great lengths to imitate lobster meat by using less desirable fish. Pike, burbot, eelpout, and gar, according to some, can all be cooked up to taste “just like lobster.” Halibut and cod are also popular in a lot of the recipes, although with the current price of halibut, I would not consider it a “poor man’s” food.
I heard about poor man’s lobster many years ago from my friend, Erik Oliver, who is fond of making faux lobster rolls using striped bass fillets.
“I swear you will think it is a lobster roll!” He promised.
I have prepared Erik’s recipe several times, and while it does taste similar to a lobster roll, it isn’t quite as good as the real deal. I can tell it isn’t lobster, yet there is a definite similarity, especially when combined with a toasted, buttered hot dog bun, and the other accoutrements associated with a lobster roll.
The most common technique seems to be boiling cubes of fish in salted water and then serving it with melted butter. Some of these recipes also include adding a heaping dose of sugar to the water, which makes sense to me, as real lobster meat certainly does contain a fair amount of sweetness.
Other recipes call for baking fillets with a good amount of butter and serving them with additional garlic butter.
Poor Man’s Lobster
Ingredients
6 (6-ounce) fillets of frozen white fish (cod, halibut, sea bass, haddock)
1 cup sugar
6 cups water
2 tablespoons salt
Lemon pepper seasoning
Paprika
1/2 lemon
Melted butter
Instructions
Line a broiling pan with aluminum foil and give it a good coat of cooking spray.
In a large saucepan, mix the salt and sugar with the water until they are dissolved. Add the frozen fish, crank up the heat, and boil for 3 minutes.
Remove the fillets and place them on the broiler pan. Brush both sides with a good dose of melted butter. Sprinkle on some lemon juice, paprika, and lemon pepper seasoning. Broil for about 7 minutes or until the fish begins to flake. Serve the fish with a small bowl of melted butter for dipping.
The fish developed a nice bit of reddish color, both from the paprika and from broiling it with the butter. It flaked up nicely, had nice color, and definitely had a taste and texture reminiscent of lobster meat. I could tell it was an imposter, but it tasted pretty darn good.
My next test was to try using the poor man’s lobster in the form of a lobster roll. Rolling something around in mayonnaise and serving it atop a buttered, toasted hot dog bun is a great way to disguise a faux ingredient, and this one was really good. Was it as good as a real lobster roll? Nope. But it was still a solid sandwich, nonetheless. I would describe it as a hybrid between a lobster roll and a really good tuna-salad sandwich.
Poor Man’s Lobster Roll
(Makes 2 big rolls)
Ingredients
½ pound faux lobster (from above recipe)
2 top-split (New England-style) hot dog buns
1 tablespoon butter
3 tablespoons mayonnaise
1/4 cup diced celery
1 tablespoon minced chives
Salt and black pepper
Juice from 1/2 lemon
Lettuce
Paprika
Instructions
Mix together the mayo, celery, chives and lemon juice, and give it a good crack of black pepper.
Add the fish to a separate bowl, and fold in just enough of the mayo mixture to give it a good coating. Do not overwork it – you want to have chunks of fish that resemble chopped lobster meat. Give it a taste and add salt if needed.
Melt the butter to a frying pan on medium heat and toast the rolls on both sides until golden brown.
Place a small piece of lettuce in the bottom of each bun, and then top it with the faux lobster salad. Garnish with diced chives and a sprinkle of paprika.
This is a mighty fine sandwich. As good as a lobster roll? Well, no, not quite. But the price is right, and when made with quality ingredients, it is still a tasty sandwich. Perhaps we just need to come up with a cool name for it. Give it a try!
