Lobster Tail Pastries

[MickeyShell]

I live in San Jose, California and would love to know where I can find Lobster Tail Pastries. Do anyone Know?

[Robert Lauriston]

Better known as sfogliatelle:

http://search.chow.com/search?query=S...=

[Ruth Lafler]

Not exactly -- see link Mari posted.

[tex.s.toast]

What is the difference between the one pictured in Mari's link and Robert's sfogliatelle?

[BillB656]

Haven't had any west coast versions but I'd summarize the ones from Boston as:

"Lobster tails" have a cream filling that has a bit more whipped cream folded in than a canolli. The pastry is thin and very crisp. I've been known to eat these until I go into a sugar coma.

Sfogliatelle has a bit of ricotta based cream and is dominated by dried citrus pieces or orange zest. The pastry has more layers and is more dense. Not a big fan.

[Ruth Lafler]

Thanks, Bill. I was going to say that lobster tails are more delicate, but your description was much more precise.

If you google it you get a lot of posts claiming that sfogliatelle is "lobster tail" -- however, I do not believe this is true, since the word "sfogliatelle" has nothing to do with lobster AND the pastry I had in Italy had a name that specifically translates as "lobster": coda d'aragosta. I believe this is a misunderstanding that is being perpetuated by Anglophone websites.

Okay, here's a thread about sfogliatelle that explains the difference: a lobster tail is a specific variation of sfogliatelle. As Bill described, one of the main differences is that the true lobster tail has a cream filling (or sometimes nutella or chestnut paste) and not the heavier, wetter ricotta-based filling.

http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.... -- scroll down to post by Choey

[pastryqueen]

Sfogliatelle and lobster tails also differ in that lobster tails (I *think* also called aragostine) have pate a choux piped inside them once they are formed, are baked and then the pocket inside formed from the choux is filled with a heavy pastry cream.

Sfogliatelle is simply the layers of pastry, formed, baked off and then filled with a ricotta mixture. I prefer sfogliatelle because I am not such a fan of pate a choux based pastries (cream puffs, eclairs, etc.)

[Ruth Lafler]

The pictures of the lobster tails in Italian-American bakeries are different from the ones I saw in Italy. The American ones are open on the end, while the ones I had in Italy were not. In the picture below, the ones I had were like the small ones on the plate in the upper left, not the big ones in the foreground. I don't think the small ones had the choux pastry center.

[BillB656]

So my mom (Italian) sends my dad (Dutch) to go to the Italian bakery and pick up a dozen pastries...
"But don't get any sfogliatelle", she says "I already have a dozen of those".

all he hears is
"blah blah blah italian bakery blah blah sfogliatelles blah blah dozen"

Guess what he came home with? 8-D

[Ruth Lafler]

LOL. I hate to disappoint you, though, but I've been unsuccessful in finding lobster tails in the SF area. There are some decent Italian bakeries that make sfogliatelle, though.

[pastryqueen]

interesting. . .what was the filling like in the small ones you had in Italy? Ricotta filling or more like a pastry cream? Since you've had both, what are the key differences in taste and texture?

I did a lot of research on these pastries because at one point I was going to supply local Italian restaurant who wanted authentic sfogliatelle for their brunch service and during my research, I was told by more than one source that lobster tails and sfogliatelle are the same. .. which I have found they are not. .. or are they? :) So confusing.

Anyway, that's where I learned about the major difference. . .and maybe it's an Italian-American thing to pipe the choux paste into the little "horn" you make when you stretch out the slice of dough. . . but what I came away with was that sfogliatelles are just the dough, formed, shaped and baked with the filling cooked inside and that the lobster tail is baked and then filled with a creamy pastry cream.

There is also a 3rd kind of sfogliatelle like pastry called sfogliatelle di frolla which is a little "horn" shaped pastry made with short dough (frolla) and ricotta similar to the filling in cannoli.

My project never panned out and I was secretly relieved because to make a true sfogliatelle is incredibly labor intensive and I made multiple batches. . .so while I enjoy and can really appreciate eating them. . making them. . .ooof!

[Ruth Lafler]

The ones I had in Italy had either a cream filling or nutella. I don't think I've ever had the "regular" sfogliatelle, I just know that what people call sfogliatelle is not the same as what I had in Rome.

[tex.s.toast]

All these clarifications are very much helpful (and were most certainly not obvious to me from the picture)

Im pretty sure that the italian bakery from which i once enjoyed the pastries i was thinking of did not discern between sfogliatelle and lobster tails, nor did they have open ends with post-bake choux sticking out, though i think they had both choux and ricotta based ones available.

[BillB656]

Cool descriptions, pastry queen! thanks. I always learn stuff on this site.

I'm from Chow Southwest (PHX) but we're planning a SF vacation for early August and finding good pastry would rock.

[Mari]

Maybe you are looking for these: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/629196