Maine Lobster, Saigon Style

I’m not what you’d call a Yankee, but I did live in Boston long enough (15 years) to acquire certain notions about the proper way to cook lobster. Namely, you start with crustaceans that are alive and kicking. You boil them alive in sea water and serve them without ceremony: in the shell, with melted butter as the only condiment and your bare hands as the only utensils.

This is pretty much the way lobster is served at lobster pounds from Camden, Maine, to Cape Cod. A lobster pound is to New England what a hot dog stand is to New York, a rough-and-tumble eatery, usually within sight of the ocean, where the lobsters are cooked in huge caldrons and served on plastic or paper plates at outdoor picnic tables. You might get a bag of potato chips or a paper cup of coleslaw by way of an accompaniment. If the proprietor is a real Yankee, you’ll probably have to pay extra for the melted butter.

Oh, sure, I’ve had lobster in fancier dishes and settings. At restaurants in France, it’s served in a spicy tomato sauce (a l’americaine, sometimes called a l’armoricaine). At temples of high gastronomy in this country, I’ve had the delectable decapod tucked into ravioli, intricately arrayed in salads, smokily grilled and even pan-blackened. But nothing I’ve experienced could top the lobster in the rough of my beloved New England.

Or so I thought until I met Binh. Binh Van Duong (the first name is pronounced “Bing”) is the owner of two acclaimed Vietnamese restaurants and the author of a seminal book on Vietnamese cuisine, “The Simple Art of Vietnamese Cooking” (Prentice Hall: 1991). Binh isn’t what you’d call a Yankee either, although he has spent more than half his life in New England, first working at his sister’s restaurant in Stockbridge, Mass., then at a place of his own, Truc Orient Express in Hartford, Conn.

Binh too has certain notions about the proper way to prepare lobster but, thank goodness, they’re not limited to the Yankee school of boil ‘em and eat ‘em.

I first tasted Binh’s Vietnamese-style lobster at his 5-year-old restaurant, Le Truc, in Boca Raton, Fla. (Truc is the Vietnamese word for “bamboo.”) The large round claws and smooth red shells declared the lobster’s New England pedigree. But the sauce was a far cry from the melted butter to which I was accustomed. This crustacean had been neatly sheared into bite-size chunks, then zestily stir-fried with garlic and shallots. It arrived in a sweet-salty tomato sauce stung with chile flakes and redolent of Vietnamese fish sauce, and it was absolutely delicious.

Binh grew up in Nha Trang, a small coastal village 200 miles north of Saigon. “Our lobsters are more like the claw-less spiny lobsters of Florida,” recalls the puckish chef, who looks maybe half his age (34). Binh should feel at home with Florida lobsters, spending much of the year in Boca, but he still prefers Maine lobsters.

“Florida lobster is too tough,” he explains. Binh got his first taste of Maine lobsters in 1975, the year Saigon fell, and he, like so many of his compatriots, escaped to the United States. It was clearly love at first bite.

When Binh prepares this dish, he cuts the lobsters up live--a procedure that’s humane (because the lobster is killed instantly), but disconcerting to most Americans. In the following recipe, I’ve called for the lobster to be boiled for a few minutes to put it out of its misery, then cut up. The lobster probably has mixed feelings about this procedure too, but it’s definitely easier on the cook.

Vietnamese-style lobster is easy to prepare, but you’ll need to know about one special ingredient: fish sauce. Called nuoc mam in Vietnamese and nam pla in Thai, fish sauce is a salty, brown condiment made from pickled anchovies. Its strong, cheesy aroma can be off-putting, but the flavor quickly becomes addictive.

Fish sauce is highly nutritious, being rich in B vitamins and protein. Southeast Asians use it as both a cooking ingredient and table sauce, and Binh calls it the “very soul” of Vietnamese cooking. Fish sauce can be found at Asian markets and in the ethnic food sections of most supermarkets. The best fish sauce is sold in glass bottles. Good brands include Flying Lion, Three Crabs and Squid Brand.

I discovered that cooking lobster with fish sauce produces the same sort of briny succulence you get when you boil the shellfish in sea water. I have no doubt a real Yankee would approve of the following recipe.

BINH VAN DUONG’S VIETNAMESE-STYLE LOBSTER

2 (1 1/2-pound) Maine lobsters

Salt

2 tablespoons chicken stock or bottled clam broth

1/4 cup tomato paste

2 tablespoons fish sauce

4 teaspoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon hot pepper flakes

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

3 tablespoons oil

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 shallots, minced

Whenever my wife and I feel like a splurge, we prepare this recipe, which has been adapted from Binh’s book, “The Simple Art of Vietnamese Cooking.”

Cook lobsters in boiling 1 quart salted water in large, tightly covered pan until just beginning to turn red, 2 minutes. Transfer lobsters to colander. Rinse with cold water until cool enough to handle.

Remove claws and break in 2 at knuckles. Crack each claw section in several places with back of cleaver or heavy knife to facilitate eating. Remove tail section from body, by grasping tail in 1 hand, body in other and twisting in opposite directions. Starting at underside (part with little legs), cut each tail in half lengthwise, using cleaver or large knife. Remove vein running length of tail. Cut each half in half widthwise. Lift carapace (top shell) off body and scoop out tomalley (soft green liver). Reserve tomalley for sauce.

Combine stock, tomato paste, fish sauce, sugar, hot pepper flakes and black pepper in small bowl. Whisk until smooth. Whisk in tomalley. Set aside.

Heat wok to smoking and swirl in 1 1/2 tablespoons oil. Add lobster pieces and stir-fry until almost cooked, about 5 minutes. Shells should turn red, exposed meat pearly white. Transfer lobster pieces to platter.

Add remaining 1 1/2 tablespoons oil to wok. Add garlic and shallots and stir-fry until tender and translucent, about 1 minute. Stir in sauce and bring to boil. Add lobster pieces and stir-fry until completely cooked and thoroughly coated with sauce, 3 to 5 minutes. Season to taste with salt, pepper or fish sauce. Serve lobster at once with rice.

Makes 4 appetizer or 2 to 3 main-course servings.