- Mm.
He knows what's going on.
Hi, I'm Rawlston, I'm a professional chef
and in this box are the ingredients
for a $107 lobster roll.
- Hi, I'm Gabby, I'm a home cook
and these are my $15
lobster roll ingredients.
Woo!
[exasperated groaning]
Bye!
- Okay.
- Ooh!
This one's bigger.
- Let's see what we got here.
Potato chips.
- Wow, okay,
this is probably the heaviest
pro versus novice box
to ever exist.
[gentle music]
Chef Rawlston's recipe
is in here, let's see.
Smoked, smoked, smoked,
Caribbean lobster roll, okay.
- I was planning on making
a smoked Caribbean lobster.
- This, I believe, is a smoking gun.
- I had some really incredible
spiny lobster tails.
- I've never seen a lobster
that looks like this before.
- So I sent Gabby some coconut
water to poach the tails in,
I also had a ton of fresh
fruit and vegetables.
- Corn on the cob.
That's a nice piece of ginger,
it's like it's giving me
the rocker sign.
A coconut!
Arguably the biggest
cabbage to ever exist.
Interesting.
- Kewpie Mayo, it's not
Caribbean but I love the texture.
- Yuzu juice?
- And some dried hibiscus
petals for grinding.
We call them sorrel.
- I'm just trying to figure out
where all of these
ingredients are going be used.
- And some butter.
- Some good butter.
- [Rawlston] Infused with garlic.
Red onions, and Scotch Bonnet peppers.
- I can already feel it,
just radiating toward me.
- All served in a
freshly baked coco bread.
- Oh wow, that smells so good!
- Toasted in coconut oil.
- That's already liquid
because it's a little bit warm in here.
- It was gonna be really good.
Shame on you for taking it from me.
- I'm definitely intimidated.
- With Gabby's recipe, I
have simpler ingredients,
stuff you're more likely to find
at your local grocery
store or your home kitchen.
- So for my version of this I had
a really basic, bare bones,
classic New England-style lobster roll.
- Celery!
Butter, mayo,
lemon.
- No bells and whistles.
- Hot dog buns
and a live lobster, mm.
- I feel like Chef
Rawlston's container was
way lighter than what this one was.
- These ingredients might
be simpler but I think
I can elevate them to another level.
If I had to guess, I
would say this costs about
$14?
[cash register ringing]
Ha!
- I think all of this
is probably, maybe $85?
[cash register ringing]
$107?
Okay, wow.
No, no pressure, no pressure at all.
Uh...
- I told Gabby to put a lot
of stuff in this lobster.
- No recipe, very, very vague.
Okay, so we have the lobster,
which is a spiny lobster.
- The spiny lobster has no claws.
The tail is slightly bigger and sweeter.
- Oh my gosh, it's just like, bursting
out of the shell already.
This will be also a first
for me, I have never used
one of these before.
- Gabby has not used a smoke
gun before, it's simple.
- Sure.
No.
[Gabby laughs]
- The lobster that I'm
used to is cooked on wood
and it's cooked on a beach,
so the gun is just a way
for me to try to get that
flavor into the lobster.
- I just don't know how
that's gonna happen.
All right, I think I need to call Rose.
I need some clarity.
Hi, Rose!
- Hey Gabby, how are you?
- Today, it's really exciting.
We are making
a smoked Caribbean lobster roll.
- Wow.
- It sounds so good.
- I love lobster rolls, by the way.
It's one of my favorite indulgences.
- How do you cook a lobster
roll with coconut water?
[Gabby laughs]
- You don't really need a rolling boil
for something like this.
You want to just have a
few inches, you don't need
to submerge the entire
lobster, you're actually gonna
maybe flip it part way
through the cooking.
- I'm trying to think
of the best way for me,
in my New York apartment
kitchen, to roast some corn.
- Use a good pair of tongs
and turn your gas stove on
and roast it, you're almost
torching it a little bit,
so that you hear a little bit of popping
and you'll get some really nice color
and caramelization on the corn.
- Ah, that sounds fun!
Let's not forget, this is
a smoked Caribbean roll,
so I have
a smoking gun.
- Okay.
- What do I need to know?
- So you're going to want to
use the meat after you cook it
and take it out of the
shell and then you're going
to put the hose into
your closed container,
smoke it for 45 seconds to a minute
and then you can do it two or three times,
so it's a little bit of a
process but a really nice one.
- Well, I feel like you're kind
of my fairy godmother, Rose.
So I'm gonna get ready for the ball.
[Gabby laughs]
Thank you!
Bye, Rose!
- Okay, bye, we'll see you soon.
- As always, Rose is
a wealth of information
and I'm feeling pretty good.
I'm pretty excited.
- So to get things going, I'm
gonna start with the lobster.
We get to this part
where I have to humanely
kill it
but to do that in the
most humane way possible,
I had to put it in the
freezer for 15 minutes,
basically numb it and then I'm going
to split it down the head and
put it in the boiling water.
It sounds brutal but it's
the most humane way to do it.
- I have my lobster tails.
There's not gonna be a lot of prep.
These are fresh, so they're ready to go.
- Another thing for
Gabby to look out for is
that the lobster tails, as
they're cooked, will curl.
So she has skewers, stick
them through the middle
to avoid them curling.
That way she can turn them.
- I'm gonna go ahead and
pour in my coconut water
and then bring it to a simmer.
- So our water's boiling.
Gonna put our lobster in the water
for about 18 minutes, then
ice bath and we're done.
- So I have my lobster tails.
So I'm just gonna go ahead
and let them get in this
pink coconut water hot tub.
I'm gonna give them about
10 minutes on this side
and give them about 10
minutes on the other side.
Ooh, we're already starting
to see some of that color!
- It's been 18 minutes,
the lobster's ready.
Gonna take it out and
put it into the ice bath.
Magically delicious!
- So these lobster tails are done,
their time in the hot tub is up.
They're gonna get too pruney
if they don't get out right now.
They're this beautiful orangeish-pink.
I think this is my
favorite color actually,
if any of you were
wondering, my favorite color
is like a peachey orange.
- Here I have the cooked lobster.
I'm gonna take it apart
to get to the meat.
Twist the tail and then...
[impersonating bugle]
claw meat is usually pretty
tricky, use a scissor.
Spiny lobster, man.
You don't gotta deal
with none of this stuff.
Ah, here we go.
And then I'm just gonna
cut down the middle here.
Then you're left with
this yummy tail here.
I'm just gonna slice this
and cut it into chunks.
- Okay, I have my cooked lobster tails.
I'm gonna go ahead and
get the meat out of them,
chop into chunks to get it ready to smoke.
So I have my smoking gun
and I have my cloche.
It has a hole in it,
specifically for the smoking gun.
So I am going to do this for
about 45 seconds to a minute
and we're gonna repeat the
process a couple of times.
Okay, so here we go, I'm
gonna go ahead and light it.
Okay, well there we go!
Things are rolling.
This is so fun!
There's like, glowing
embers in the top of this.
It's making it looks like
we're in a music video in here,
so I'm okay with it.
Oh, it's all in here.
[Gabby laughs]
I'm gonna go ahead and rearrange
the lobster a little bit,
so the smoke kind of gets
into some of the other parts.
I feel like an evil scientist right now.
Last blast!
Okay I actually think my chips are out,
so there's not quite as much smoke but
I think we did pretty well.
- So Gabby also sent me some mayo.
It says real mayo on there,
which means it probably tastes
really good but I'm gonna
elevate it with some tamarind.
Just gonna shell it, simple
and let's see if I can
still be as fast as I used to be as a kid.
This is what it looks like.
It's okay if a little bit
of shell gets in there
'cause it's going to be strained.
Tamarind hands!
The equivalent to Cheeto fingers.
So now we're gonna render the tamarind.
Just gonna add some water,
just to slightly cover
and as you agitate, you'll
thicken as the pulp is released.
This is the consistency we're looking for
and I'm just gonna strain it now
and start pressing on the sides, right.
First the water's released
and then the pulp is
gonna come to the sides,
so you just scrape it off the bottom here.
It has this tart flavor that it hits you
right at the tip of your tongue
and then directly to your cheeks, right.
Make you go like this,
make you squint your eyes
a little bit.
- Time to throw these gloves on.
It's Scotch Bonnet pepper time.
- It's super super hot, so wear
gloves when you work with it
and definitely take it out before you add
the lobster meat to that butter
'cause it's already gonna
give you a really spicy kick.
- Okay, so I've got everything here
to make my Scotch Bonnet-infused butter.
Garlic,
diced red onion and my
butter, which I'm gonna use
about a quarter pound.
My Scotch Bonnet pepper, cut it in half,
so that it's pretty easy to take out.
I'm gonna go ahead and turn my burner on.
I'm gonna keep it a little lower,
don't wanna overheat this or
don't wanna let it go too long
'cause we don't want anything browning.
We just really wanna infuse it.
Things are softening up a little bit
and becoming a little more fragrant.
There's really nothing better
than garlic, butter and onions
and sure, Scotch Bonnet pepper, why not?
- We have our cooled tamarind, our mayo
and we're gonna put them together.
About two tablespoons and
about a tablespoon of tamarind.
Then we just fold it in.
See there it goes.
It hits you there, then it goes
[screeching]
right there.
- All right, so I have my
beautiful ear of corn here.
Just look how beautiful
and big those kernels are.
Okay, we'll get a nice flame, stick it on.
[corn popping]
It's really loud.
Just some casual corn
exploding, it's fine.
[corn popping]
I think I got it in the eyeball.
[Gabby laughs]
I got corn in my eyeball.
[Gabby laughs]
- So Gabby sent me some
chips for the side.
I think I'm gonna do
something a little different.
I'm going to make some plantain chips.
I'm gonna cut it in half,
score it down the middle,
just peel off the skin.
Slice it on a mandolin, about this size
and cut them like this,
they look kind of ugly
but when you fry it, they all beautiful.
Okay so we're at the stove,
the oil is about 300 degrees.
If it's too hot, it will
burn, it will start turning
brown really quickly.
So it should take maybe about
a minute and these look good,
they're ready for bagging.
The next step is for me to
add some lime and some salt.
All right, these are all
fried up and good to go.
- So I have my corn,
nice and toasted
and I'm just gonna go ahead
and remove the kernels from
the cob, break it up a little.
Ooh that looks good.
I'm gonna go ahead and add in my avocado.
All right, next I'll do the culantro.
- It's like a cilantro but not.
It's a familiar flavor but not quite.
- It's like a saw tooth and
it smells like cilantro.
To me, it makes sense to
just slice it pretty thin,
so it's in little strips.
Like a tablespoon, my
red onion, bell pepper,
my minced ginger and the cabbage
that was as big as my head.
This is my head and this is the cabbage.
[Gabby laughs]
All right pineapple, here we go.
I'm gonna go ahead and decapitate it.
I like to make sure that my pineapple has
a really nice steady base, so I am gonna
cut off the bottom as well.
I'm excited for the pineapple
because I think it's gonna add
some nice sweetness and really bring out
the sweetness of the coconut lobster.
So I'm gonna slice these pretty thin.
Toss that in with everything else.
Coconut!
It's pretty incredible to
see the anatomy of a coconut.
It's like it has its own little house!
So I'm gonna go ahead
and just cut off a little of this coconut.
Nice!
Okay!
I'm a little exhausted
from all the chopping
that went into this but hey,
I guess that's what happens
when you make a $107 lobster roll.
- So I have all these
components, it's time to put
them all together.
Let's start with the parsley.
A little more than a quarter cup
and then this is something
that we always have growing up.
In my culture, we call it mango chow.
Green mangoes and ripe
mangoes with vinegar.
The crispness of the celery
is being replaced with
the crispness of the mango.
Half the mayo,
parsley,
mix it around.
Gonna zest a lemon here.
Can't resist, white pepper, black pepper,
green pepper and a
little bit of red pepper.
I couldn't decide so I put them all.
Pinch of salt.
Oh man!
- Heading into the home stretch,
it's time to assemble the filling.
I'm gonna go ahead and
just pour the melted butter
all over my lobster tail.
Oh yes!
Toss in all my other ingredients.
Mayo's going in, go for my yuzu now,
grind in some pepper,
salt, it's a pretty dish.
- All right, time to make this bun.
I'm gonna toast it in some butter
and then I'm gonna infuse
it with some smoke.
I'm totally addicted to
smoke, I always feel like
that's the one thing
that's missing from my food
is that element of smoke
that we get when we cook food
in our yard in the islands.
First cut the edges off
and then we can go ahead
and toast it.
Think like a teaspoon and a half of butter
and then we're going to
toast it on all edges.
- Last but not least,
that gorgeous hibiscus.
- Some people describe
hibiscus as a nice floral note
with a little bit of a
cranberry type of taste as well
and it's also going to act
a little bit like another
layer of tartness,
almost like a citrus replacement.
If you ever had High C, I
think they used hibiscus,
dried hibiscus in there sometimes too.
- Oh!
No way!
So I have a spice grinder here.
Put in a few flowers, give them a whir.
[grinder whirring]
Wow, I pulled it off and
the dust is just going.
There's like this really fun pink residue.
It's super fragrant and
I'm really excited to see
how it tastes with all the extra flavors.
- We sent Gabby a smoking gun
as well but she got a cloche.
I have Saran Wrap but
it's gonna work the same.
The butter here that's coating
the bun is gonna capture
a lot of that smoke.
And there we go, we're sealing
in the smoke into that bun.
- Gonna put the coco bread in
a little bit of coconut oil.
Ooh!
Just to make the outside nice and toasty.
Ooh!
It has a nice little crust
on it now, as you can hear.
[scratching crust]
A little ASMR for you guys.
So I'm gonna go ahead and cut this open
and then add my filling
and the hibiscus powder.
- All right, let's plate this.
[gentle music]
I have the bun, I have the lobster
and I have my plantain chips.
Take a big helping of lobster
and this is a time where you can
actually overstuff it a little bit.
Get a little bit of that sauce,
tamarind and the mayo mix
and then we take the plantain
chips, drop them on the plate.
I like this.
So here's my take on Gabby's dish.
We have an elevated lobster
roll with plantain chips.
- I'm going to assemble
now the lobster roll.
So I'm getting a nice hefty spoonful.
I'm gonna very purposefully
get chonks, lobster chonks.
All right, that seems pretty loaded up.
It's overflowing, so I feel
like that's a good sign.
Okay, time to sprinkle
on the hibiscus powder.
Oh wow, that looks awesome.
I think this professional
smoked Caribbean lobster roll is done.
It looks pretty amazing!
I'm pretty proud of myself.
- It looks good, I'm ready to eat it.
[gentle music]
All right, let's try this thing.
Yeah.
Oh my God.
Dude.
- Mm!
- I really really like this.
- You taste everything but it tastes so
good together, it makes so much sense.
- The smokiness, the
lemon, the tamarind is
just all melted together,
like it's just amazing.
- The lobster tastes so good!
It's really really tender.
The grilled corn, the hickory
smoke really just ties
it all together.
[crunching chip]
- Gabby, I think you'll be
proud of me with this one.
- I just, I think it's amazing.
Gotta pat myself on the back a little bit,
I think I did it justice.
[Gabby laughs]
Chef Rawlston, it is so nice to meet you!
- How are you doing, Gabby?
- I'm doing great, I'm doing great
but I'm pretty excited to show you what is
probably one of the best
pieces of food I'll ever make.
- Oh wow, show me, show me!
- Here we go.
- Oh that looks delish!
That's more like a lobster
loaf, not a lobster roll.
- It really is.
[Rawlston laughs]
I wanna see what you came
up with, I'm really excited.
- Here we go.
- Oh my gosh!
Are those plantains?
Oh it looks so good!
- And then I added some mango
and I used tamarind in the mayo.
- Ooh!
Oh my gosh, I love tamarind,
I would've never thought of that.
- How did you get along
with roasting the corn?
- Actually
it was,
it was surprising.
- You had that pop, pop, pop?
- It was crazy.
It was fun.
- Well it's good.
- No, it's so good.
I think I'm gonna need
to buy a smoking gun.
- You can do a lot of stuff
with that smoking gun.
- Yeah!
- I kinda did a little smoking myself.
That sounded a little funny but
[Gabby laughs]
the butter you gave me,
I toasted the bun in it
and then I smoked it,
I smoked the whole bun.
- How'd you like it?
- It's good, I'm gonna
continue to smoke buns.
- You're gonna smoke some buns?
[Gabby laughs]
