A lobster roll is a dish native to
New England
New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...
. It is made of lobster meat served on a grilled
hot dog-style bun. The filling may also contain butter, lemon juice, salt, and black pepper, with variants made in some parts of New England replacing the butter with mayonnaise. Other versions may contain diced celery or scallion. Potato chips or French fries are the typical
side dishes.
History
According to the "Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink"
the lobster roll originated as a hot dish at a restaurant named Perry's in
Milford Milford may refer to:
Place names Canada
* Milford (Annapolis), Nova Scotia
* Milford (Halifax), Nova Scotia
* Milford, Ontario
England
* Milford, Derbyshire
* Milford, Devon, a place in Devon
* Milford on Sea, Hampshire
* Milford, Shro ...
, Connecticut, as early as 1929.
[ Its popularity then spread up and down the Connecticut coast, but not far beyond it. In Connecticut, the sandwich served warm is called a "lobster roll"; served cold, a "lobster salad roll."
As far back as 1970, chopped lobster meat heated in ]drawn butter
Drawn butter is melted butter,Damon Fowler, ''Classical Southern Cooking'', annotated edition, 2008, p. 113 often served as a sauce for steamed seafood. Some cooks restrict the term to clarified butter, while others insist that it should not be c ...
was served on a hot dog bun at roadside stands such as Red's Eats
220px, Long lines are common at Red's
Red's Eats is a take-out restaurant located in Wiscasset, Maine. It is one of the most well-known and most-written-about restaurants in the state. in Maine
Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north ...
. Lobster rolls in the U.S. are associated with the state of Maine, but are also commonly available at seafood
Seafood is any form of sea life regarded as food by humans, prominently including fish and shellfish. Shellfish include various species of molluscs (e.g. bivalve molluscs such as clams, oysters and mussels, and cephalopods such as octopus an ...
restaurants in the other New England states and on Eastern Long Island
Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...
, where lobster fishing is common.
Lobster rolls in Maine are characteristically served on a New England-style hot dog bun
New England-style hot dog buns, also often known as New England hot dog buns or top-loading hot dog buns, are the hot dog buns most commonly used in the United States region of New England and its cuisine. They may also be called split-top, top-s ...
, which is split on the top instead of the side and has flat sides for grilling. The lobster meat is usually served cold, rather than warm or hot, and mayonnaise is typically spread inside the bun or tossed with the meat. The filling consists of chunked knuckle, claw, and lobster tail and is only lightly seasoned if at all. Four ounces is a standard serving size.
Lobster rolls are a popular seasonal meal, particularly among tourists throughout the Maritime provinces
The Maritimes, also called the Maritime provinces, is a region of Eastern Canada consisting of three provinces: New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island. The Maritimes had a population of 1,899,324 in 2021, which makes up 5.1% of Ca ...
in Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
, especially Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland".
Most of the population are native Eng ...
, where they may also appear on hamburger bun
A hamburger, or simply burger, is a food consisting of fillings—usually a patty of ground meat, typically beef—placed inside a sliced bun or bread roll. Hamburgers are often served with cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, bacon, o ...
s, baguettes
A baguette (; ) is a long, thin type of bread of French origin that is commonly made from basic lean dough (the dough, though not the shape, is defined by French law). It is distinguishable by its length and crisp crust.
A baguette has a dia ...
, or other types of bread roll
Bread is a staple food prepared from a dough of flour (usually wheat) and water, usually by baking. Throughout recorded history and around the world, it has been an important part of many cultures' diet. It is one of the oldest human-made foo ...
s and even in pita
Pita ( or ) or pitta (British English), is a family of yeast-leavened round flatbreads baked from wheat flour, common in the Mediterranean, Middle East, and neighboring areas. It includes the widely known version with an interior pocket, als ...
pockets. The traditional side orders are potato chips
A potato chip (North American English; often just chip) or crisp (British and Irish English) is a thin slice of potato that has been either deep fried, baked, or air fried until crunchy. They are commonly served as a snack, side dish, or ap ...
and dill pickles
A pickled cucumber (commonly known as a pickle in the United States and Canada and a gherkin in Britain, Ireland, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand) is a usually small or miniature cucumber that has been pickled in a brine, vinegar, or ...
.
McDonald's
McDonald's Corporation is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechri ...
restaurants in Canadian provinces, such as Nova Scotia and Ontario, as well as in New England, offer lobster rolls as a seasonal item in the summer.
See also
* Cuisine of New England
New England cuisine is an American cuisine which originated in the New England region of the United States, and traces its roots to traditional English cuisine and Native American cuisine of the Abenaki, Narragansett, Niantic, Wabanaki, Wampan ...
* List of regional dishes of the United States
The cuisine of the United States includes many regional or local dishes, side dishes and foods. This list includes dishes and foods that are associated with specific regions of the United States.
__TOC__
Regional dishes of the United States
...
* List of sandwiches
A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to:
People
* List (surname)
Organizations
* List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America
* SC Germania List, German rugby unio ...
* List of seafood dishes
This is a list of notable seafood dishes. Seafood dishes are food dishes which use seafood (fish, shellfish or seaweed) as primary ingredients, and are ready to be served or eaten with any needed preparation or cooking completed. Many fish or ...
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lobster roll
American sandwiches
Seafood sandwiches
Lobster dishes
New England cuisine
Cuisine of Atlantic Canada