The Seafood Sauce Every Luxurious Steak Needs

As one of the meals people in the U.S. prefer the most, a well-made, high-quality steak offers a sumptuous taste few dishes can replicate. Topping this top dish is a task often reserved for boozy cream sauces or blue cheese compound butter, but smothering a juicy steak in lobster gravy goes a step further, taking a page out of Food & Wine Classic's Aspen playbook. 

Taking surf and turf to new heights, lobster gravy is a heady mixture prepared by blending a blonde roux with a dry, white wine-enhanced lobster broth. Like Hollandaise, this lavish seafood sauce is equally at home atop a plate of eggs Benedict as it is slathered over a well-marbled cut of Wagyu beef. According to chef and restaurateur Brooke Williamson, it's also only a few short steps away from becoming a luxe lobster soup. "I didn't realize that 90% of shellfish flavor came from the shells. I've been throwing away the shells for years, but now I stash them in the freezer because I know I can make stock with them," Williamson told Food & Wine.

Not to be confused with lobster sauce (an American-Chinese, starch-thickened sauce made with chicken broth, fermented black beans, garlic, and other flavors), lobster gravy starts with a blonde roux blended with a seafood stock made from discarded lobster shells and a dry white wine. The stock is seasoned with onion, fennel, carrot, garlic, celery, and tomato paste. Some recipes also call for pastis, an anise-flavored liqueur that pairs well with fennel and enhances the gravy's seafood flavor.

After a big crab boil or the next time you prep and grill lobster, be sure to save those shells! Lobster, crab, and shrimp shells can all be saved in the freezer for seafood stock. To further enhance seafood stock's flavor, consider roasting the shells, too. Along with peppercorn, mustard sauce, and garlic butter, lobster gravy is another recipe to keep in your steak-topping arsenal.