Lobster Roll

A lobster roll is a bun filled with lobster meat – customarily a long bun, like for hot dogs, but occasionally a circular one. The cool lobster roll is meat bound with mayonnaise and bits of celery loaded into a bun. Known also as a lobster salad roll, it remains a popular choice along the Maine shore. In 1929 Harry Perry, proprietor of a seafood shack in Milford, Connecticut, came up with a new twist: the hot lobster roll. He eliminated the mayonnaise and piled warm picked meat bathed in butter into a toasted bun. Perry’s invention was such a success that his restaurant soon sported a sign boasting that it was Home of the Famous Lobster Roll. His outrageously rich creation became what Connecticut Magazine editor Charles Monagan called “Connecticut’s greatest contribution to the world of regional cuisine.” There is no underestimating the role of the roll in a lobster roll, especially a hot one. Tradition says it should be the split-top Yankee type, toasted to a buttery gold crisp on the outside, soft and absorbent on the inside where the meat sits. Excess butter soaks into it along with sweet marine juice, transforming a relatively plain piece of bread into a flavor-packed companion for lobster meat.