Lagostada

Macanese Fusion·Hard·45 min

A seafood bake built around lobster in a Macanese style, with egg, a coconut-tomato-based sauce, and a pastry or potato crust. Portuguese seafood-bake technique applied to local tropical lobster.

Egg

Lagostada is a Macanese seafood bake built around lobster (the Portuguese word lagosta), applying Portuguese seafood-bake technique to local tropical lobster with Macanese spice aromatics. The lobster is baked in a coconut-and-tomato-based sauce with egg, under a pastry or potato crust. It is a festive Macanese dish, served at the Chá Gordo feast, and reflects Macau's position as a Portuguese port where tropical lobster met European baking tradition.

Rich, savoury lobster in a golden, coconut-tomato sauce under a crisp crust, the lobster sweet and tender, the sauce intense. Eaten in portions, it is luxurious, festive and the seafood face of Macau.

The lobster is split and partially cooked, then baked in a sauce of coconut milk, tomato, onion, garlic and egg, which sets into a rich custard around the lobster meat. The pastry or potato crust on top crisps in the oven. The coconut-tomato base is the Macanese tropical signature; the crust is the Portuguese bake tradition. The lobster must not be overcooked, or it toughens.

Variations

A potato-crust version tops with sliced potatoes. Some add prawns alongside the lobster.

On the Palate

Where Lagostada sits in the Macanese flavor cloud

Ingredients

Serves 6

How it's made

6 steps · 45 min

1
10 min
Split 2 lobsters (about 500g each) lengthwise; remove the meat from the shells in large pieces; reserve the shells.
2
8 min
In a pan, fry 1 chopped onion and 4 cloves garlic in 2 tbsp oil; add 200ml coconut milk, 3 tbsp tomato paste and 2 beaten eggs.
3
5 min
Return the lobster meat to the sauce; spoon into the reserved shells or a baking dish.
4
6 min
Cover with a pastry crust or overlapping potato slices; brush with egg.
5
14 min
Bake at 200C for 25 minutes until the crust is golden and the filling set.
Watch out
Bake just until the crust is golden and the coconut-egg sauce sets to a soft custard, about twenty-five minutes — pull it the moment it sets or the lobster overcooks and toughens.
6
4 min
Rest 5 minutes; serve in portions.

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Baking Sheet

Flat rectangular metal pan (sheet pan, half-sheet, quarter-sheet), 33×23 cm to 45×33 cm, with a low rim. The flat surface gives even heat for cookies, biscuits, roasted vegetables, sheet-pan dinners. Heavy aluminum sheets conduct heat fastest; non-stick coatings make cleanup easier but can warp over 200°C; rimmed half-sheet is the modern American restaurant standard.

Techniques

Baking