Jasper White’s World-Famous Lobster Rolls

Name: Jasper White’s World-Famous Lobster Rolls
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 1 pound fully cooked lobster meat, or 5 pounds live lobsters; 1 medium cucumber (5 to 6 ounces), peeled, seeded, and finely diced; 1/2 cup Special Tarragon Mayonnaise (recipe follows); or bottled mayonnaise; or bottled mayonnaise mixed with the seasonings in the Special Tarragon Mayonnaise recipe below, to taste; 3 small scallions (white and most of the green parts), thinly sliced; kosher or sea salt; freshly ground black pepper; 6 New England-style top-split hot dog buns (or regular hot dog buns, with about 1/4-inch of the sides shaved off to make a flat surface for griddling); 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened; pickles and potato chips, for serving; 1 large egg yolk; 1 tablespoons Dijon mustard; 2 teaspoons chopped fresh tarragon leaves; 1 cup salad oil, such as safflower, sunflower, or refined peanut (avoid full-flavored oil); juice of 1/2 large lemon; 1 tablespoon ice water; cayenne pepper or Tabasco sauce

Instructions

“If you close your eyes and you’ve never had it and you take a bite," White says. "You’d think it’s the greatest thing you’ve ever tasted.” Steaming means that the lobster cooks in its own salty-sweet juices, rather than letting boiling water in to dilute them. Steaming is also a slightly slower, gentler, and more forgiving method—if you leave the lobsters in the steamer an extra minute, they won’t overcook. Anything you add from there shouldn't overpower the lobster, just act as a subtle complement. If you make the tarragon mayonnaise, it shouldn’t taste like tarragon, White says. “It should just be a whisper.” Adapted slightly from Lobster at Home (Scribner, 1998).

Updated at: Sun, 23 Nov 2025 19:10:12 GMT