Welcome to Clubhouse Eats, where we celebrate the game’s most delectable food and drink. Hope you brought your appetite.
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Most proud and passionate Southerners will tell you that you can chicken-fry any type of meat. Steak is the most popular choice, but venture through the South and you’ll certainly come across chicken-fried pork chops, venison, even chicken. We’ll admit, the latter doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to us, but that’s another matter for another time.
Fourteen years ago, Chef Gilbert Moore at Horseshoe Bay Resort in south central Texas took this staple of Southern cooking in an entirely new direction, introducing chicken-fried lobster. Available only at the community’s Yacht Club, the dish was an immediate crowd pleaser, so much so that it’s remained a staple on the restaurant’s menu ever since.
“It’s the contrast in textures,” says Chris Besaw, the Yacht Club’s current executive chef, explaining what makes the dish so successful. “When you deep-fry something, you get this beautiful crispy crust, and when you cut through that into a super tender, almost buttery, lobster tail, it screams decadence.”
Although it requires a bit of preparation, some research, and a willingness to experiment ahead of time, recreating the dish at home is very doable (see recipe below). “It can be intimidating,” Chef Besaw acknowledges, “especially when you’re working with higher-end ingredients. But that’s where the research comes in.”
By research, he means watching some YouTube tutorials on how to break down a lobster tail. He’s also referring to trial runs using more affordable ingredients. You want to make sure you get a thin, even layer of breading on the lobster before you fry it, so practicing how to properly dredge the protein using shrimp will allow you to refine your skills on a less expensive piece of seafood. That will also give you a chance to tweak the ratios of the dried herbs that make up the seasoned flour mixture, should you want to add more or less paprika, Old Bay seasoning, or granulated garlic, for example.
“It’s a big investment to make this dish,” Besaw says. “It’s worth it when you pull it off, but it’s a big risk. Knowing before you cook this expensive, delicate shellfish is better than knowing afterwards. Not everybody can afford to just go out and buy a bunch of lobster and play around and if it doesn’t work, just throw it away.”
As for that lobster, the chef doesn’t expect home cooks to be butchering live lobsters in their kitchens, but he’s quick to point out that the dish can still be great if you’re using frozen lobster tails — you just need to make sure you talk with a specialist at a high-end supermarket like Whole Foods or a fishmonger to ensure that you get the freshest lobster possible. In other words, you want lobster that was flash-frozen and packaged recently. You also want to make sure that it’s only been frozen once. “You don’t want something that’s been in the freezer for a couple of years,” he says. “And you don’t want something that’s been thawed out and refrozen, because the meat will fall apart.”
When you bread the lobster prior to frying it, first coat the meat in seasoned flour, then dip the meat in an egg wash, and finally re-coat it in the flour mixture, making sure you dedicate one hand (or pair of tongs) to the dry ingredients and the other for the egg wash. This will prevent any breading clumps from forming. Also, make sure you use a neutral-flavored oil with a high smoke point, such as canola oil.
The chicken-fried lobster is best served with a black pepper gravy (recipe below), but don’t forget to add citrus. “Right before you serve it, hit the lobster with a squeeze of lemon,” he says. “It’ll be delicious. It brightens up the entire dish.”
Chicken-Fried Lobster Tail
Courtesy of Chef Chris Besaw at Horseshoe Bay Resort
Ingredients:
6 oz. lobster tail
4 large eggs
2 oz. half-and-half
1 lb. all-purpose flour
7 oz. corn starch
1.5 oz. freshly ground black pepper (toasted)
1.5 oz. Kosher salt
1 oz. Old Bay seasoning
0.5 oz. granulated garlic (or garlic powder)
0.5 oz. granulated onion (or onion powder)
0.5 oz. Spanish paprika
Preparation:
Slowly cut away the shell from the lobster meat until you reach the tail fin (keep the fin attached and intact). Flip over the lobster tail and repeat the process from the other side. Using the tail fin, slowly pull the lobster meat from the shell.
In a large bowl, combine all dry ingredients, whisking until well incorporated.
Pre-heat a table-top deep fryer or a Dutch oven filled with canola oil to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs and half-and-half.
Dredge the lobster tail in the flour mixture. Transfer it into the egg wash, making sure the entire lobster tail is coated. Then dip it back into the flour mixture, shaking off any excess.
Carefully drop the lobster tail in the hot oil, frying for approximately four minutes or until the meat reaches an internal temperature of 140 degrees.
Black Pepper Gravy
Courtesy of Chef Chris Besaw at Horseshoe Bay Resort
Ingredients:
1 quart whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
4 tbsp. butter
4 tbsp. all-purpose flour
3 tbsp. freshly ground black pepper (toasted)
2 tbsp. Kosher salt
0.5 tsp. celery seed (toasted)
2 bay leaves (toasted)
3 sprigs of fresh thyme
Preparation:
Using cheese cloth and cooking twine, create a sachet for the thyme, bay leaf, and celery seed.
Set a saute pan over medium-high heat. Once hot, add the butter and, when melted, fold in the flour. Continue cooking for three to four minutes, stirring frequently until the roux mixture has lightly browned. Remove from heat and keep warm.
In a medium saucepan, add the milk, heavy cream, and herb sachet and bring to a simmer.
Slowly add the roux, whisking constantly until fully combined.
Cook for five minutes, then season with salt and pepper.
