A lobster roll is a kind of sandwich filled with lobster meat. A traditional lobster roll contains the fresh cooked meat of a lobster, tossed with mayonnaise and served on a grilled hot dog bun or similar roll, so that the opening is on the top rather than on the side. The filling may also contain diced celery and/or scallion, or may use drawn butter instead of or in addition to mayonnaise. The sandwich may also contain lettuce, lemon juice, salt and black pepper. Traditional New England restaurants serve lobster rolls (made with butter, not mayonnaise) with potato chips or french fries on the side. As far back as 1970, chopped lobster meat heated in drawn butter was served on a hot dog bun at road side stands such as Red's Eats in Maine,
Lobster rolls in the U.S. are especially associated with the state of Maine, but are also commonly available at seafood restaurants in the other New England states and on Eastern Long Island, where lobster fishing is common. They tend to be virtually unheard-of in landlocked regions (such as the Upper Midwest), where fresh lobster is more expensive and more difficult to obtain.
Lobster rolls prepared in Maine generally have several common characteristics: first, the roll itself is a regular split hot dog roll that has been lightly buttered on the outside and lightly grilled; second, the lobster meat in the roll is usually served cold, rather than warm or hot; third, there can be a very light spread of mayonnaise inside the bun. The lobster meat is usually knuckle, claw, and tail meat chunks.
They are a staple summer meal throughout the Maritime provinces in Canada, particularly Nova Scotia where they may also appear on hamburger buns, baguettes, or other types of bread rolls — even pita pockets. The traditional sides are potato chips and dill pickles.
Some McDonald's restaurants in New England and the Canadian Maritimes offer lobster rolls as a seasonal menu item when McDonald's can buy frozen lobster cheaply, called the McLobster Roll.
There is also a variant called the Connecticut lobster roll, which is warm lobster, fresh from the shell with drawn butter. According to the book Connecticut Icons, the Connecticut roll was introduced in the 1930s at a restaurant in Milford on the Post Road called Perry's, following a request from a traveling salesman who frequented the place. Once Perry's put the new sandwich on its menu, its popularity spread up and down the Connecticut coast, but not far beyond. For those residing in Connecticut, a lobster roll served warm as was requested by the salesman mentioned above, is simply called a "lobster roll" while the lobster roll served cold as it is throughout the rest of the northeast region and the world is called a "lobster salad roll" .
Famous quotes containing the words lobster and/or roll:
“Give praise with the lobster who is the almighty picker-upper and is still fine to the tongue.”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)
“Three meals of thin gruel a day, with an onion twice a week, and half a roll on Saturdays.”
—Charles Dickens (1812–1870)