Lobster Stock 101 Recipes

Steps:

• Remove head sacs (behind eyes) in carapaces; discard. Remove any green tomalley or red roe; reserve for another use or discard. Wrap shells in a clean kitchen towel. Using a rolling pin, meat pounder, or hammer, break shells (some large pieces might remain).
• Heat oil in a Dutch oven or stockpot over medium heat until hot but not smoking. Add shells; cook until fragrant (do not let blacken), about 3 minutes.
• Stir in onions, carrots, celery, and garlic, and fennel (if desired). Cook, without stirring, until vegetables begin to brown, about 3 minutes. Add tomatoes, wine (if desired), peppercorns, thyme, parsley, and bay leaf.
• Fill pot two-thirds with cold water (about 4 1/2 quarts). Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer. Skim froth from surface with a ladle. Cook until broth is aromatic and flavorful, about 1 hour 45 minutes.
• Carefully pour stock through a fine sieve set over a large bowl or container. Discard solids; let stock cool completely. If not using immediately, refrigerate in airtight containers up to 3 days, or freeze up to 2 months.

Steps:

• Bring a large stockpot of water to a rolling boil, add lobsters, and cook at a fast boil until done, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a bowl of iced water to cool, then remove and reserve tail and claw meat for another use. Do this messy job over a bowl to reserve drippings. Crush shells, which will be the base for the stock, using a mallet or hammer, then grind as fine as possible with reserved drippings in a food processor.
• Melt butter and oil in a large stockpot over medium-high heat. Cook onions, carrots, celery, and salt until golden, about 10 minutes. Stir in crushed shells, white wine, and Madeira. Turn heat to high and cook until liquid is reduced by half.
• Add clam juice and tomato juice. Bring to a boil and carefully skim and discard foam that rises to surface. Add remaining ingredients and cook at a simmer, uncovered, 1 hour 15 minutes.
• Strain through a fine sieve and refrigerate up to 2 days or freeze indefinitely.

Steps:

• In a large stockpot, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the lobster shells and sauté for 1 minute. Add enough water so that the pot is 2/3 full, then add the onion, bay leaves and peppercorns. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer for several hours or overnight. (The longer it simmers, the better.) Using tongs, remove and discard the large shells, then strain the stock through a fine sieve twice.

Steps:

• Melt the butter in a deep, heavy pot and cook the shallots and garlic over low heat until transparent but not browned.
• Add all the lobster scraps to the pot and crush them down well with a potato masher. Raise the heat, add the Cognac and flame it.
• Add wine, tomato paste, tarragon, thyme and white pepper and mix well.
• Add water to barely cover, plus 1/2 teaspoon salt, mix well, boil, cover, reduce heat and simmer 30 minutes.
• Strain broth and discard scraps. Cool broth quickly, uncovered, and refrigerate. When completely cold, remove the cake of recongealed lobster butter from the top and wrap and reserve it in the freezer for future use. Freeze the broth in small containers.

Steps:

• 1. Heat the oil in a large, wide pot over high heat until just smoking. Add the lobster shells and sear without stirring for 1 minute (the shells may stick to the pot). Stir them slightly and continue cooking, stirring from time to time until the shells are well browned but not burned, about 5 minutes.
• 2. Add the brandy, garlic, shallots, and fennel. Use a wooden spoon to scrape up any bits stuck to the bottom of the pot. Stir in the tomato paste. Turn the heat to medium-low and cook until the vegetables are soft, about 3 minutes.
• 3. Stir in the water and bring to a boil. Boil for 15 minutes. Remove from the heat and let stand for 10 minutes. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve, pressing firmly down on the solids to extract as much of the flavorful liquid as possible (see Tip, below). Store, tightly covered, in the refrigerator for up to 3 days, or in the freezer for up to 2 months.

Steps:

• To make lobster stock:
• Split the lobster carcasses down the middle and remove the grain sac.
• Cook the carrot, celery rib, garlic cloves, bay leaf, and thyme sprig in the olive oil in a 6- to 8-quart pot over moderate heat until softened.
• Stir in the lobster carcasses and water. Bring to a boil and simmer until reduced to about 6 cups, about 11/2 hours.
• Strain through a cheesecloth-lined fine sieve. Cool and refrigerate up to 4 days or freeze up to 3 months.

Steps:

• Cut off the fronts of the heads (about 1/2" back from the eyes). Discard.
• With back of a heavy knife, crush lobster shells and heads (or coarsely chop) -- or wrap lobster shells in an old kitchen towel and crush into walnut-sized pieces with a rolling pin.
• In an 8-quart heavy kettle heat oil over moderate heat until hot but not smoking and brown lobster shells and heads, mashing with a wooden spoon to help break up, about 15 minutes.
• Stir in carrot, onion, tomato, parsley, celery, bay leaf, peppercorns and wine and simmer until most of wine is evaporated.
• Add water and simmer until liquid is reduced to about 4 cups (about 90 minutes).
• Pour stock through a fine sieve into a heat proof bowl. Rinse the sieve and line it with a double layer of cheesecloth. Pour stock onto the cheesecloth to strain it a second time. You can strain it 3 or 4 times if you are a perfectionist. (One blogger who posted a picture of her perfectly clear lobster stock said she strained it 8 times.).
• Let cool before refrigerating.
• Stock may be made 3 days ahead and cooled, uncovered, before being chilled, covered. Stock keeps, frozen, 3 months.

Steps:

• Wrap lobster shells in old kitchen towel and crush with rolling pin into walnut-sized pieces.
• Drain shells in a colander set over a bowl to catch excess juice. Reserve the liquid.
• Heat olive oil over medium-high heat in large, heavy stockpot. Add lobster shells and stir for 5 minutes, until slightly golden.
• Add onion and garlic and cook until vegetables have begun to soften, 3-4 minutes.
• Add tomato paste and stir continuously for 2 more minutes.
• Add tomato juice, water, peppercorns, bay leaf and reserved lobster juice. Simmer mixture, partially covered, over medium heat for 25 minutes.
• Strain stock through colander into clean pan, pressing firmly on solids to extract any remaining liquid. Discard solids.
• Bring stock to a simmer and reduce to about 1-1/2 gallons of lobster stock. Strain through sieve.