American lobster. A variety of lobster found in the waters of New England with a brown to blue-black shell, with particularly large claws. It has firm white flesh with good, sweet flavour. I ate this variety in the Lobster House in Gloucester, Massachusetts in the 60s - a pilgrimage I made when I was living in the United States as I was born in Gloucester, England. They come in three sizes. Jumbo, at 1 kg in weight (2 lb); large at 680-900 g (1.5-2 lb), quarter at 560-680 g (1.25-1.5 lb), chicken at 450 g (1 lb) and chix at less than 450 g (1 lb).
Asti is an important Italian wine growing region and town to the south east of Turin in the province of Piedmont in the extreme north west of Italy. Famous for Asti Spumante.
Lobster. The European lobster is a large, marine shellfish with huge claws and is dark, mottled blue-black before cooking, turning red during the process. The flesh is sweet and tender. The Maine or American lobster found in the United States is huge in size and lacks the wonderful sweetness of its European cousin. American varieties may sometimes be brick red before cooking. In Europe they are likely to up to 2 kg (4ΒΌ lbs) while North American ones may be a lot larger. Increasingly, American lobsters are imported for use in Europe.
A sweet and fruity sparkling white wine of low alcohol content, made from Moscato Bianco, or Muscat, grapes using the Charmat method, to the south east of Turin in the Piedmont.
