Black Truffle Lobster Recipe: How and When to Add Truffle Oil – Milan Truffle

How Do You Make Lobster with Black Truffle?

Poach the lobster, build a white wine and crème fraîche pan sauce with its meat, then take the pan off the heat and finish with black truffle oil. The truffle goes in last, away from the burner, because its aroma compounds are volatile and sustained heat drives them off.

When Should You Add Truffle Oil to Lobster?

Add truffle oil after the pan leaves the heat, never during cooking. Wait approximately 30 seconds, then stir it through the sauce and serve immediately. Oil added to a simmering sauce loses most of its aroma before the dish reaches the table. The same rule applies to every finishing oil, as our guide to how to use truffle oil correctly explains dish by dish.

How Much Truffle Oil Should You Use?

Use approximately half a teaspoon per person, or 2 teaspoons for four servings. Truffle oil is a finishing oil rather than a cooking fat, and more of it flattens the dish instead of deepening it.

Lobster with Black Truffle: Recipe at a Glance

Servings	4 main portions
Preparation time	20 minutes
Cooking time	Approximately 25 minutes
Total time	Approximately 45 minutes
Base	White wine and crème fraîche pan sauce
Finishing ingredient	Black truffle infused extra virgin olive oil

What Ingredients Do You Need?

2 live lobsters, approximately 600–700 g each
50 g unsalted butter
2 tablespoons Italian extra virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 shallot, finely chopped
100 mL dry white wine
100 mL fish stock
100 mL crème fraîche
2 teaspoons black truffle infused extra virgin olive oil, to finish
Flat-leaf parsley, chopped, to finish
Salt, to taste
Black pepper, to taste
Fresh black truffle (Tuber melanosporum), thinly shaved, optional and seasonal

Two different oils do two different jobs here: the plain extra virgin olive oil cooks the aromatics, and the truffle oil finishes the dish off the heat.

How Do You Cook and Shell the Lobster?

Bring a large saucepan of well-salted water to a rolling boil.
Immerse the lobsters and cook for 8 to 10 minutes. Lift them out and let them cool enough to handle.
Shell the lobsters, taking the meat from the claws and the tail. Cut it into medium pieces and set aside.

How Do You Make the Black Truffle Cream Sauce?

Melt the butter with the extra virgin olive oil in a wide pan over medium heat.
Add the garlic and shallot and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, until soft and fragrant but not coloured.
Add the lobster meat and sauté for 2 to 3 minutes, just to warm it through.
Deglaze with the white wine and let it reduce by half.
Add the fish stock and simmer for approximately 5 minutes, until the sauce begins to thicken.
Stir in the crème fraîche and simmer gently for 2 to 3 minutes more, until the sauce coats the back of a spoon. Season with salt and pepper.

How Do You Finish and Serve It?

Take the pan off the heat and wait approximately 30 seconds.
Add the black truffle oil and the chopped parsley, and stir once.
Divide between four warmed plates, shave fresh truffle over each portion if you have it, and serve immediately.

The crème fraîche carries the truffle aroma through the whole plate rather than leaving it on top, which is why the sauce is finished before the oil goes in and not after.

Frequently Asked Questions

Should You Use Fresh Truffle or Truffle Oil?

Truffle oil carries this dish and fresh truffle is an optional addition on top of it. Fresh Tuber melanosporum is available only in winter, sold by the gram, and loses aroma within days of harvest. Two teaspoons of black truffle infused extra virgin olive oil give you the same dish in any month. If you do have fresh truffle, shave it over the plated lobster rather than into the pan.

What Kind of Truffle Goes with Lobster?

Black truffle. Its flavour is earthy and comparatively deep, so it holds up against the butter, the reduced wine and the crème fraîche. White truffle is more delicate and more volatile, and a cream-based sauce covers it.

Can You Make This Without Live Lobster?

Yes. Two lobster tails of approximately 350–400 g, thawed and simmered for 5 to 6 minutes, give roughly the same quantity of meat. Cooked lobster meat also works: skip the first section and add the meat to the sauce for no more than two minutes, since it is already cooked and will toughen.

Can You Prepare Any of It Ahead?

The lobster can be cooked and shelled a few hours ahead and kept covered in the refrigerator. Make the sauce and add the truffle oil only when you are ready to serve, because reheating removes the aroma the oil was added for.

Is Truffle Oil Real Truffle?

It depends on the bottle. Milan Truffle's black truffle oil is Italian extra virgin olive oil finished with natural black truffle aroma. Many supermarket truffle oils are built on refined seed oil with synthetic aroma compounds, which is a different product at a different price. Our guide to real and fake truffle oil explains how to read the label.