Slipper lobster ◆

Cigale de mer

What it is

It has no claws and no whip antennae — the front pair is flattened into two shovels it digs with — so the whole edible animal is one broad tail. Taking it has been forbidden in France since a decree of 26 November 1992, after diving pressure emptied the Gulf of Lion, and kitchens here buy it from Italian and Spanish landings instead.

In the kitchen

Split the tail lengthways through the shell and grill it cut side down three minutes, then shell side three — about six minutes total for a two-hundred-gram tail. Push past that and the flesh goes cottony in a way no amount of butter disguises.

Goes with

Olive oil Garlic Lemon Butter Saffron Fennel Tomato Parsley

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