Boiled lobster served with ketchup/catsup??

[Morganna]

I was watching a show I normally enjoy a great deal, Rick Stein's Food Heroes which is basically this chef/food writer going around the UK in search of fresh produce/meats/foods that are available to encourage people to explore their own regions and use fresh foods in cooking.

During one of these shows, he was talking about boiled lobster, can't remember the context exactly, but he said something about all it needs is butter to be delightful, but not served with ketchup, "Like the Americans do".

I was flabbergasted. I have never known anyone anywhere here in the US who served ketchup with their lobster (I've had lobster in Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, Alaska, Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts, and probably some other places I'm not recalling). Not even cocktail sauce like you get some some shrimp cocktails was included in any lobster meal I've ever had.

This got me wondering... ARE there places in the US where they serve ketchup with lobster? Any of you ever heard of such?

[shallots]

A British friend was shocked at the large size of some Gulf coast shrimp and kept calling them Langostinos and muttering that they'd be mistaken for lobsters in Britain.

[Morganna]

Mmmmm gulf shrimps. :) I saw something that Stein kept calling "langostines" that were being harvested from a loch in Scotland. They looked yummy, their front claws, and the uhm, well "arms" were a lot longer than any shrimp I've seen, even the big ole gulf ones.

[vvvindaloo]

Wow, that is just offensive.

[Emme]

I am one of these weird people that likes ketchup on just about EVERYTHING... eggs, cauliflower, broccoli, eggplant, chicken, blackened fish, steamed whole lobster (esp the claws which i prefer to the tail, which i basically eat just as a formality or pass over to a dining companion)... however, i would never insult a chef by asking for ketchup in a restaurant. If it happens to be on a table when my lobster arrives, I may clandestinely sneak a bit onto my plate, but I save that oddity for home generally. That said, it is MY food, and if I want to *ruin* the delicacy of my lobster claws, I take that as my perogative.

[Morganna]

There must be a cure for this disease!! ;)

[crosby_p]

Oh My!!! That's an easy way to ruin the delicate taste of lobster...the closest I've ever seen to that in the US is a local Irish Pub that serves a kind of remoulade-y sauce with its fish and chips. It actually works well!

[Morganna]

Just to be clear, he was talking about boiled lobster, not any sort of other dishes made with lobster like lobster rolls. He did not mention having been to any clam bakes or such, where you might see cocktail sauce served alongside for the shrimps, but I suppose that could be where he got the idea. :) I've been trying to find a way to just send him a polite email correcting that particular statement or asking where he got that idea, but I can't seem to find a way to contact him (not that I've really tried too terribly hard or anything). I just wondered if anyone else heard of some region in the US where such a thing was de rigeur (sp?). Thanks for all the comments! :) He probably was just joking and I missed the nuance (though I'm generally pretty good with British dry humor).

[Eat_Nopal]

Not joking.... but hopefully somebody from Minnesota can weigh in.... because the few people that I have know that will put ketchup on everything were from that state... and told me everybody else does that as well.

[Gio]

If you would like to contact Rick Stein here's his info:

http://www.rickstein.com/contact.htm

[Morganna]

I sent off a nice and very polite "correction" to him via their online form. Thanks Gio. :)

[Eat_Nopal]

1) Salsa (albeit very bad adaptations) now outsell Ketchup as the preffered condiment in the U.S.... so maybe the stereotype should be updated across the pond?

2) Ironically its Mexicans that tend to use ketchup with seafood a little more - its one of the ingredients in the most ubiquitous style of "ceviche" cocktail sauce. While Americans are probably more familiar with Mexican Shrimp Cocktails.... Mexican fishing villages where Spiny Lobster or Crab are more plentiful than shrimp will use them instead.

The end result is much better than people would think... when thinking of ketchup & lobster.

[TonyO]

Oh yeah, England is a real culinary mecca !

[Gio]

OH my - this response is mine.

[Indy 67]

Based on our experience in Kilkenny, Ireland, salsa has already made it across the pond. However, if our encounter with salsa was typical, few Americans would recognize it.

We ordered a cheese plate in a pub in Kilkenny that included a delicious condiment I would call chutney. Later, talking about the varieties of cheese with the server, he kept referring to the chutney as "salsa."

[Veggo]

EN, I'm laughing out loud at the visual of the ubiquitous Mexican Shrimp Coctail..little shrimp in a stew of ketchup, in the ubiquitous pudding glass. But ketchup on lobster? No crustacean should suffer such an ignominious ending, anywhere. And any perpetrator should have been smothered at birth. (to borrow a phrase from the east side of the pond)

[foodiegrl]

Growing up on the beaches of Washington State, we used to roast mussels right off the rocks with a dash of ketchup or cocktail sauce right from the bottle. Lobster, though- no way!

[coll]

The only thing I can think is that the fries on the side had ketchup: or else he's thinking of the cocktail sauce traditionally served with shrimp or oysters. I'm going to figure he wasn't talking about American/Maine lobster in the UK? I thought "local" would be rock lobster?

[Loren3]

Maybe he means lobster rolls.

Ironically, pretty much every pub I've been to in England drenches everything in Marie Rose sauce - ketchup and mayo.

[monavano]

Ha! That was Thousand Island dressing when I was growing up. I still love to put that on iceberg lettuce. I guess that makes me "oh so American". Actally, dousing my mac and cheese with ketchup probably does it.

www.piealamona.blogspot.com

[kallis33]

Actually, I've heard that ketchup on Kraft macaroni and cheese is common in Canada.

[robgm]

it is and we actually call it (and the box is labeled "Kraft Dinner")

[dude]

So that IS what Terrance and Philip were talking about!!

(South Park)

[robgm]

Kraft Dinner is a meal in itself or the like hamburger helper-a great base for comfort food

[monavano]

Wow, how intersting! Kraft Dinner, who knew? My husband dips grilled cheese in ketchup too.

[fara]

my Swedish roomate used to put ketchup on everything - grilled cheese, tomato-cream sauces with pasta!

[Megiac]

My in-laws are Swedish and I've eaten a lot of Swedish food, and I can promise that this was a habit that was specific to your roommate and not typical of Swedes in general.

I love ketchup personally (has anybody read Jeffrey Steingarten's ode to it?), but putting it on lobster is just wrong.

[ipsedixit]

My college roommate used to eat raw oysters with ketchup.

[Candy]

At my first oyster roast, I might have been 8-9, I was introduced to oysters with catsup and butter and a little oyster liquor. Tasted pretty doggone good to me. It don't know about now. Funny, but oyster roasts just aren't popular in Indiana.

[monavano]

Remember when Micah on Top Chef 3 when she served (to the judges) her meatloaf with ketchup because "you Americans like to douse your food in ketchup" or something like that.
Yeah, you don't want to go there...;-)

www.piealamona.blogspot.com

[ESNY]

I'm sure its just a stereotype that American's put ketchup on everything, not a specific region that does that. Just like the belief that Canadians or Dutch put mayo on everything.

[Morganna]

Hrmph, I suppose. I suppose Rick Stein isn't really good at avoiding stereotypes, he does seem to talk in generalities on his show. I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Maybe he was just joking, but it didn't seem like it. :)

[Candy]

I'm an American who likes mayo on just about anything, catsup I'm a little pickier about. I prefer mayo with my lobster rolls but I cannot fathom catsup. Maybe I'm just being narrow minded?

[coney with everything]

agree, esny