Lobster coral

Corail de homard

What it is

The coral is the hen lobster's unripe eggs, dark green while raw and scarlet only once heat unlocks the protein holding the pigment down — the same reaction that reddens the shell. Escoffier's beurre de corail works it raw into butter so that colour and thickening arrive together, at the last second.

In the kitchen

Work it raw into soft butter and whisk that into the bisque off the heat. Dropped straight into a pot above about 70 °C it seizes into red grains and thickens nothing.

Goes with

Butter Cognac Cream Tomato Tarragon Shallot Lobster

Same species

American lobster Lobster

In season alongside

Ikura Japanese abalone Bonito (katsuo) Brown crab Cuttlefish Breton kombu

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