The Yankee Recipe Archives are a curious place. One minute I’m swooning over a 1987 food feature on hearth-side cooking, and the next I’m scratching my head at recipes for things like Punkhorn Stew, Steak ‘N Olives, and this week’s feature — Mock Lobster Soup.
Mock Lobster Soup | Yankee Recipe Archives (1972) Photo Credit : Aimee Seavey
I stumbled across it in the same cookbook that brought me last week’s Red Flannel Hash recipe, 1972’s Favorite New England Recipes. It was submitted by Mrs. Margaret Walbridge Aikkola, a native New Englander living in Finland, who said that her father invented the recipe as a thrifty alternative to lobster soup.
At the time, we agreed that it did, saying the dill called for in the recipe gives the broth its “nutty, lobster-like flavor.”
Yankee Magazine’s Favorite New England Recipes from 1972. Photo Credit : Aimee Seavey
The instructions are incredibly simple. All you need to make this mock lobster soup is a pound of firm, white fish (such as haddock), fresh dill, water, seasoning, butter, and a can of condensed tomato soup (or bisque, which was all I could find in the small size). This made me wonder if I should be calling this mock lobster bisque instead of mock lobster soup, but we’ll stick with soup, since that’s what Margaret called it.
The ingredients for Mock Lobster Soup are pretty simple. Photo Credit : Aimee Seavey
The method is easy and fast. Boil some water, add the dill and fish, then the soup (or bisque), cook until hot, dot with butter and seasoning, and serve!
The verdict? The soup was surprisingly tasty. I added a few extra cups of water, since I thought it was too thick with just a quart. And did it taste like lobster? Well…no. How can anything that’s not lobster taste like lobster? The small amount of dill does add a nice flavor, however, which may have guests thinking they’re detecting something extra special.
Recently, there’s been a lot of buzz about monkfish standing in as a substitute for lobster, because its firm, sweet flesh mimics that of lobster tail meat. Monkfish is also a better choice for sustainability, and is usually quite affordable, so it may make for an even better choice here than the haddock or cod called for in the original recipe.
Mock Lobster Soup. Photo Credit : Aimee Seavey
Have you ever had mock lobster soup? Do you have a favorite “mock” recipe? And does it hold a candle to the original? Let us know in the comments!
Aimee Tucker is Yankee Magazine’s Home Editor and the Senior Digital Editor of NewEngland.com. A lifelong New Englander and Yankee contributor since 2010, Aimee has written columns devoted to history, foliage, retro food, and architecture, and regularly shares her experiences in New England travel, home, and gardening. Her most memorable Yankee experiences to date include meeting Stephen King, singing along to a James Taylor Fourth of July concert at Tanglewood, and taking to the skies in the Hood blimp for an open-air tour of the Massachusetts coastline.
