Main Ingredients:

See below ingredients and instructions of the recipe

Cooking Preparation of the Recipe:

1 Very large lobster
1/2 lb Butter
1 tb Mustard
1 tb Catsup
1 c Vinegar (white wine if poss)
Cayenne pepper to taste

(Amounts are approximate: the above measurement should be increased
or decreased depending on the size of the lobster. You want about a
cup of sauce per two people.) Thackeray's original follows: . "You
take a lobster, about three feet long if possible, remove the shell,
cut or break the flesh of the fish in pieces not too small. Someone
else meanwhile makes a mixture of mustard, vinegar, catsup and lots
of cayenne pepper. You produce a machine called a "despatcher" which
has a spirit lamp underneath it that is usually illuminated with
whiskey." (He appears to be talking about a chafing dish with a
pretty aggressive flame.) "The lobster, the sauce, and near
half-a-pound of butter are placed in the despatcher, which is
immediately closed. When boiling, the mixture is stirred up, the
lobster being sure to heave about the pan in a convulsive manner,
while it emits a remarkable rich and agreeable odour through the
apartment. A glass and a half of sherry is now thrown into the pan,
and the contents served out hot, and eaten by the company. Porter
(i.e. stout) is commonly drunk, and whisly-punch afterwards, and the
dish is fit for an emperor."
. Unfortunately the day of inexpensive three-foot-long lobsters has
passed, even in Ireland (lobsters of this size are still taken off
the west coast, however). In modern terms: Clean and shell the
lobster as indicated above. Mix the mustard, vinegar, catsup and
cayenne to taste (some people might prefer to cut the sourness of the
vinegar by substituting a half-and-half mixture of vinegar and dry
white wine). Melt the butter in a large saucepan, saute the lobster
briefly in it, not allowing it to color at all; then add the
mustard/vinegar/cayenne mixture, mix well, cover, and allow to stew
over medium heat for 15-20 minutes. Boiled new potatoes would go very
well with this, or baked potatoes, or plain buttered rice. Thackeray
and his friends seem to have not eaten anything else with the dish,
but they seem to have drunk a great deal; he remarks in the next
paragraph of the excerpt on ways to deal with the hangover....

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