A good friend of mine and fellow Mainer pointed out a great article in the November issue of Portland Monthly magazine in which Gordon Ramsay sings the praises of Maine lobster and bashes restaurants that serve counterfeit Maine lobster (an issue I wrote about in an earlier post). Apparently, Ramsay caught out a New York restaraunt owner for passing off Canadian lobsters as Maine lobsters and went ballistic on his TV show, “American Kitchen Nightmares.”
I’ve not been able to find the video footage online, but the Portland Monthly article has a full transcript and I’ve included that below. In addition to explaining why Maine lobster has such a great reputation, Ramsay also talks about his favorite way to prepare Maine lobster – a clam bake with lobster, clams, mussles and corn on the cob. Enjoy!
Jay Michaud says
December 5, 2009 at 7:43 pmBoth my wife & I lobster out of Marblehead, Massachusetts.
Our lobsters are fresh from Massachusetts Bay (the southern end of the Gulf of Maine). While I'm happy that Gordon R. is a lobster aficionado, I challenge him (and anyone else)to identify a difference between lobsters that are caught in our waters from the ones caught in Maine.
How about our bugs that migrate Down East, does he consider them illegal immigrants? Jay & Susan Michaud
F/V International Harvester
F/V a touch of gray
Anonymous says
December 14, 2009 at 6:54 pmI am from Nova scotia and I would like to onform Mr. Ramsey that Canadian lobsters are world renound for there high quality and disired far more that new england lobsters. We do not have the problem of pooor quality soft shell lobsters as they are not fished during multing season. This is why our lobsters demand a much higher price all over the world. Mr. Ramsey indicated that the Canadian lobsters were cheaper I would like to correct him. The lobsters he was referring to are the softshell New England lobsters that our Canadian buyers puchase and then ship back the the States at a cheaper price with a Canadian label on the box to make them more attractive to the consumer. Mtr. Ramsey should do some more research because obviously he is not a knowledgeable about seafood as he thinks.
Anonymous says
October 31, 2010 at 11:34 amIf you have seen the show "Lobster Wars" you can see that almost all boats head into.The gulf of Maine to get their Lobsters. Why?Because the "Gulf of Maine" is known for.It's COLD waters and Rocky bottoms which.Make it ideal for high quality tasting Lobsters. So Mass, Rhode Island, Connecticut, NY.Get them off their coast and sell them at higher.Costs, or go onto the gulf and steel them from. Now Canadian Lobsters I agree Are good but the lengths on them are different sizes. They are aloud to take smaller ones and females. That is wrong and the supply will be hurt. Maine is the name that they use. It's the best.
riverviewnb says
February 8, 2012 at 12:38 amMaine is a shedder fishery, they ship them to New Brunswick and PEI and can them as they are not suitable for the live market. It is exactly the same lobster stock in the Bay of Fundy, Gordon is wrongf.
Anonymous says
July 25, 2012 at 2:36 pmLove this blog thanks for all the great stuff.
Here is the clip from the show
Full unedited version
Cheers! JPA
Anonymous says
February 3, 2013 at 9:12 pmI saw that show, and it's nonsense; I'm from Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, and they are in very high demand as absolutely top quality lobsters…..Gordon doesn't know what he is talking about. now,I don't think lobster from the mainland are quite as good as ours, from farther north, but Maine lobsters are considered very low quality here. In fact right now there are very large quantities of very cheap Maine lobster being dumped up here…..don't know how those kind of numbers are sustainable. Anyway, Gordon needs to get better informed.
Anonymous says
March 30, 2013 at 1:15 pmI think the bottom line with Maine and Canadian lobster is the same as with beef and Kobe beef – those two are also are from the same animal.
Where the big difference steps in is the price that can be charged. Misleading the customer to pay more and using cheaper alternative shows no respect towards those without you wouldn't have a business to run.
Anonymous says
May 25, 2014 at 8:17 pmRemember this episode, so right. Scotland Lobster is way different to Canadian Lobster, We have Dorset Blue and Devon , they are good, but not as not as good as Scottish. I have never had a Maine lobster, Gordon knows his stuff, I have eaten in his restaurants and cooked his recipes .