Spiny lobster ◆

Langouste rouge

What it is

It has no claws and defends itself with sound instead, rasping the base of each antenna against a ridge below the eye to produce a rattle audible through a boat’s hull. The langoustiers of Camaret gave up the Breton grounds in the 1920s and sailed down to Mauritania for it, months at a time, in wooden boats fitted with live wells.

In the kitchen

Split the tail along the back rather than through the belly, and take it off the heat at 55 °C in the thickest part — it holds less water than homard and goes cottony a minute later. No claw meat is coming, so build the dish on the tail alone.

Goes with

Butter Tarragon Cognac Tomato Cream Fennel Olive oil Saffron

In season alongside

Brill Arctic char Crayfish Dentex Greater amberjack (kanpachi) Lobster

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