A GUEST SPOT IN BRAD LEONE'S KITCHEN, MAKING HOT AND COLD LOBSTER ROLLS TWO WAYS.
THE PLACE
Makin' It! is Brad Leone's show, and the kitchen is Brad's. The episode is called "Hot vs. Cold Lobster Rolls with Laurent!", which tells you my whole role in it: I am the guest. It went up in September 2024. The idea is a cook-off inside one batch of lobsters: steam them once, then split them into the two great lobster roll traditions, the hot Connecticut and the cold Maine, head to head in the same toasted buns.
THE CHEF
Brad cooks the way his show is built: big energy, no fuss, everything within reach. The chives and garlic chives came out of his garden. So did the stalk of lemongrass that landed in the butter bath later, mostly as a joke. And then there is Barbara. Partway through the episode, Brad explains that Barbara is a made-up character he and his buddy Eli invented, which is why my Instagram post for the episode just says "Barbara!". Now you know as much as anyone.
IN HIS KITCHEN
About eight live lobsters went into a double steamer on an induction burner, with Old Bay shaken into the water just for the aromatics. Three of them came out at the five-minute mark, par-cooked, because the hot rolls work differently: their meat gets picked and finished in a warm butter bath, two sticks of butter with a cleaned lobster body simmering in it for flavour, roasted garlic, a little miso, smoked paprika, black pepper, a pinch of oregano and one sage leaf, held at about 115 °F and never allowed to bubble. The rest of the lobsters steamed the full eighteen to twenty minutes, then went to chill. Their meat came out in bite-size pieces and folded through mayonnaise seasoned with roasted garlic, paprika, Old Bay, black pepper, lemon juice and chives. The buns were plain top-split rolls, toasted in butter in a cast iron skillet: hot bun, cold salad. And then my one move: iceberg, shredded into a chiffonade and piled on top, to keep it Canadian. Brad let it happen, and by the end the lettuce went on all of them.
WHAT STAYED WITH ME
Two rolls, one lobster, opposite temperatures, and the hot one waits for nobody: a hot roll gets eaten fast, before the bun gives up. That is the whole lesson of the episode. The kitchen was Brad's, the show is Brad's, and the Connecticut versus Maine argument is a New England one I was happy to be invited into. Merci, Brad. Barbara says hi.
SHOP THE STORY
A little of that day, from the shop:
TOUJOURS FAIM! THE COOKBOOK: $39.95 CAD
TF OLIVE OIL x LA BELLE EXCUSE: $34.95 CAD
CLASSIC APRON: $60.00 CAD
By Laurent Dagenais.
WATCH THE VIDEO