Matt Dean Pettit - The Great Lobster Cookbook More than 100 recipes to cook at home

Copyright 2014 Matt Dean Pettit

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Print ISBN: 978-0-449-01628-2
e-book ISBN: 978-0-449-01629-9

Cover design by Terri Nimmo
Photography by Brilynn Ferguson
Illustrations on by Donald Pettit
Nautical flags on

Published in Canada by Appetite by Random House, a division of Random House of Canada Limited, a Penguin Random House Company

www.randomhouse.ca

v3.1

They say you cant pick your family but I wouldnt have it any other way!

Love you, guys.

Thank you for making me the man I am today. xox

LOBSTER HAS BEEN part of my life since I was a little boy. I can still remember the first time I tasted it, on a family road trip to the east coast of Canada. We had loaded up the car and set out on our journey, from my hometown of Midland, Ontario, to Wolfville, Nova Scotia, to see a family friend. At every pit stop, we visited roadside shacks that served bright red lobstersand people were eating them with their hands! I could barely believe my eyes. People eating with their hands? When youre nine years old, anything you can eat with your hands is a dream come true! Since that magical moment, Ive been hooked, and every year after that for my birthday I would ask, without fail, for a bib, hot butter, and a lobster the size of my body.

When I was 13 years old, I got my first jobworking as a busboy at Caseys Restaurant, the hotspot in my hometown at the time. At age 14, I was promoted to kitchen prep, and fell in love with it right away. I continued to work in kitchens throughout high school, cooking and learning about all different types of food, but it was my job at The BoatWorks when I was 16 that stands out the most. The BoatWorks sat right on the water and was the busiest place in town. It was there that I got my first chance to cook and work with seafood. I vividly remember the first day the chef put me on the raw bar. The regular oyster shucker hadnt shown up for his shift, and I was to be his replacement. It was trial by fire, and I was forced to learn how to shuck 800 oysters on the spot I still have all my fingers today, so I think we can say the shift was a success!

For the next few years, I worked in the kitchens of many great restaurants, learning from many amazing people, all stoking the fire in my belly to one day start my own place. I was always told that you have two ears and one mouth for a reason. I took that lesson to heart, and I would listen carefully and learn about all things seafood and lobster whenever possible. When I was in university, my lucky roommates would often be treated to a home-cooked Sunday meal (Grizzy and Spano, you remember, right?). We could always find a spot in our nonexistent student budget for some lobster tails, some crab legs, and a 12-pack of beer. I was never intimated by the prospect of cooking lobster. I just loved experimenting with it, and if I was lucky enough to spot one on a restaurant menu, it was a given that I would order it.

Many years later, in 2011, I was working in a suit-and-tie day job in Toronto when I had a life-changing lobster experience. My girlfriend, Dana, and I had been invited to our friends Darcy and Jens wedding in Miramichi, New Brunswick. While there, we had the good fortune to experience Maritime hospitality at its finest. Maritimers are wonderful, hard-working people who would give you the shirt off their back if you needed itif you have ever been out east, Im sure you know what I mean. Many of them make their living from the sea, and lobsters and seafood are just everywhere! It was as if the lobsters were inviting me to eat them from every storefront, and I happily accepted their invitation! In New Brunswick, lobsters are available everywherein dive bars and restaurants, and straight from the dock. You can even buy live lobsters at the airport and have them packed while you wait for your flight! And it was while I was sitting in the airport waiting for my flight that I started to think more about lobster. I got to thinking about the perceptions that people have about lobster and wondering why this delicious crustacean that I love so much isnt more readily available to everyone. And suddenly a lightbulb went on inside my head.