Langostinos a la Americana (Lobster American-Style)

History

"A la americana" is the Spanish rendering of the French preparation "à l'américaine." In this recipe the shellfish is cut up, sautéed in olive oil with finely chopped onion and shallot, flamed with cognac in two additions, then finished with tomato paste, a few tablespoons of meatless Spanish (brown) sauce, a pinch of Cayenne, and a bouquet garni, and reduced over high heat. This tomato-, oil-, and cognac-based treatment matches the classic dish that is "usually credited to a chef named Pierre Fraisse who worked at a restaurant in Paris". According to that account, Fraisse came from Sète in Languedoc, had worked around 1858 at a Chicago restaurant called "Café Américaine," and is said to have made the dish for American diners in a hurry one night in the 1860s, naming it for the customers he served. Food writers note that its "oil, tomatoes and garlic indicate a Provençal origin, rather than a Breton one". The origin and even the name are genuinely contested: the preparation is also written "à l'armoricaine" (after Armorica/Brittany); Escoffier himself "claimed the dish as his own"; and some scholars trace its method to French-Creole Saint-Domingue (Haiti). The recipe appears as "Langostinos a la americana" in La Mejor Cocinera, Recetas de Cocina, issued by Editorial Saturnino Calleja in Madrid; the earliest firmly located edition dates to about 1921. The book's authorship is anonymous — Saturnino Calleja Fernández (1855–1915) was the publisher who founded Editorial Calleja in 1875, not the author. The historical record does not document any social-status, class, or wealth meaning for this dish.

Ingredients

• 1 whole fresh lobster
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 whole onions
• 2 whole shallots
• 0.5 small glass cognac
• 0.5 small glass cognac
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 3 tablespoons Spanish sauce (Lenten style)
• 4 tablespoons Spanish sauce (Lenten style)
• 1 pinch Cayenne pepper
• 1 small bunch bouquet garni

Instructions

1. Cut the lobster meat into pieces. Heat the olive oil in a pan over a lively flame and sauté the lobster pieces, adding the finely chopped onions and shallots.
2. After a few minutes, add half a small glass of cognac. Shortly thereafter, add another half glass of cognac along with a tablespoon of tomato paste.
3. Stir in 3 to 4 tablespoons of Spanish sauce (vigilia style — meatless), a pinch of Cayenne pepper, and a bouquet garni (herb bundle).
4. Reduce the sauce over high heat until it reaches the desired consistency. Serve immediately.