Monday, April 5, 2010

Beer Battered & Deep Fried South African Lobster Tails

The Mondays after I spend a weekend cooking are always among the hungriest days I spend in the office.
I usually start my morning by ripping and editing my food photography from the weekend.
It's a great way to ease back into the week, but it never fails to make me want to head back into the kitchen for more cooking, and sooner or later, more eating.
It's not that I'm have incredible mouthwatering food photography skills (I wish), it's just I reminisce about how delicious the meal was, and how relaxing it was to prepare.
Then I wake up from my daydream and realize I'm not in my kitchen, I'm at my desk in front of Photoshop, and I'm about to start drooling BOO.
There were some OUTSTANDING eats around my house this weekend.
Friday night I made beer battered and fried South African Lobster Tails.
They were amazing. The beer kept the batter from being too heavy, and the sweet, velvety South African Lobster tail just melted in your mouth with the delectable coating. It was fried food heaven.
I was planning on making the Dean Brother's Baked Hush-puppies recipe, but I was lazy, and my Mom had made about 10lbs of German Potato Salad to have with Easter Dinner, so I figured I would just have that as I side.

I am powerless against the incredible deliciousness of German Potato Salad. And to make matters worse, I can't make it to save my life. My family holds the recipe hostage, and won't pass it on until it's absolutely necessary. I have pointed out the flaw in the logic of this plan...but that goes ignored. Others hold the ultimate potato power I wish to possess.
Warm, full of fresh parsley and dill...with lots and lots of bacon. You just can't go wrong with it no matter what you serve it with. I had to admit, I thought it seemed to be an unusual pairing with Lobster, but I was so very wrong.
The beer in the batter on the South African Lobster tails was perfectly complimented by the German Potato Salad.
There is a news flash for you guys... beer goes well with German food. Someone call the news paper and stop the presses. This is front page material right here ladies and gentlemen.
Now that we have had that breakthrough, I can share the recipe and photos from over the weekend! Happy eating foodies. I'll be back later this week with more pictures from Easter Sunday's dinner.

Beer Battered & Fried Lobster Tails

Ingredients
Two 8-10 oz Lobster Tails (South African used in this recipe)
1 Bottle Beer of Your Choice

1 cup cornmeal
1/4 cup all purpose flour
Salt & pepper to taste
Cajun Seasoning to taste
Oil for frying

Directions
Using a deep fryer or dutch oven, heat vegetable oil to 365 degrees.
Combine dry ingredients in a 1 gallon zip lock bag and shake to combine well.
Add beer to the dry ingredients little by little until your mixture looks like a thick lumpy paste. This should take most of the bottle of beer.
Split Lobster tails in half using kitchen shears and cutting from the fin, towards the front.
Once lobster tails are split, place each half into the bag of batter and cover completely with batter.
Once all Lobster tail pieces are battered, drop them into the hot oil and fry for about 5 minutes. Lobster tail meat should be firm and white when cooked, and the batter will be a golden brown color. Allow lobster tail halves to rest on a paper towel before serving to draw out any excess oil.

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