Butter poached lobster with leeks, pomme maxim and red beet essence

Take the lobster out of the shell before fully cooking it for more control over taste and texture.

Bring three quarts of water with a quarter cup of distilled vinegar to a boil in each of two saucepans.

Put the lobster in a tight-fitting Dutch oven and steep it in the boiling vinegar water, enough to kill it and free the flesh without cooking it: two and a half minutes for a 1.7 pound lobster. Keep the water.

Work while the lobster is still hot; cooled, the fat and meat congeal and the meat is hard to remove.

Hold with a towel, grasp the tail and twist to detach; return the claws to the hot water for five minutes.

Lay the tail meat on its back, cut lengthwise through the middle, remove the vein, lay on a paper towel-lined plate, cover with plastic and refrigerate.

Twist off each knuckle, pull the pincer to loosen and crack it off, crack the top of the claw shell with the heel of a knife about three quarters of an inch from the joint and slide the meat out; cut the knuckle along its smooth outside edge with scissors.

Discard the top shell, remove the tamale and the feathery lungs, rinse the body and legs and freeze them for stock.

Melt one stick of butter over low heat without stirring until it separates into three layers; skim off the foamy milk solids and pour off the clear yellow butter through cheesecloth, leaving the milky liquid behind.

For the beurre monte, bring a tablespoon of water to a boil in a saucepan, turn to low and whisk in one and a half pounds of butter in chunks so it melts while staying emulsified; it keeps in the fridge.

Peel the Yukon Gold potatoes and slice them paper thin on the mandolin, then cut rounds with the smallest circular cutter.

Bake at 300F for 45 to 50 minutes; at 35 minutes his first batch was already too brown and had to be redone.

Toss the rounds in the clarified butter, separating them by hand so all are coated, and arrange them on a mat overlapping by half into a solid sheet or in overlapping circles.

Trim the leeks to the light green and white part and slice them into rounds.

Blanch in a large quantity of water relative to the vegetables so the boil does not drop, with about a cup of salt per gallon so it tastes like the ocean, then plunge into a large quantity of ice water: raw green vegetables look dull because of a gas layer between skin and pigment, heat releases it and the pigment floods to the surface, but the vegetable's acids and enzymes then dull the green, so cook it as fast as possible.

Hold the leek rounds in a sieve, lower them into the boiling salted water and keep it boiling until tender, then dunk in the ice water until completely cool.

Julienne the carrot, turnip and dark green leek and cut them into a sixteenth inch dice; blanch each vegetable separately in the salted water, cool in cold water and drain on paper towel, then combine.

Reduce one cup of beet juice slowly in a small saucepan down to two to three tablespoons of glaze.

Chop the chives.

Cut the tomato pulp into strips and then diagonally into diamonds.

Lay the room temperature lobster pieces in one layer in a saucepan, add enough beurre monte to almost cover, and poach on low to medium without boiling for five to six minutes until just cooked through.

In another saucepan warm the leek rounds and chopped chives, then add the tomato diamonds, the brunoise, an eighth cup of beurre monte and a pinch of white pepper.

Bring the beet glaze to a simmer and add half a teaspoon of red wine vinegar, a couple of drops of lemon juice and three tablespoons of beurre monte.

Reheat the pomme maxim in the 300F oven.

Spoon the essence onto the plate, top with a generous amount of the leek mixture, then the lobster tail and claw, and the crispiest golden brown piece of pomme maxim on top.