Thanks for the reminder! I went last Friday and ended up with a lot of random but good things: couple Wagyu NY strips, 12 english muffins, honeycomb, frozen sweet potato waffle fries were the highlights. My big score was frozen lobster heads for $3/lb. I’ve never just bought the head, but thought it would make good lobster stock for bisque, risotto, etc. The lobster bisque turned out pretty well but I didn’t realize how much you need to reduce the stock for it to be flavorful enough. That took all day. I also made an Irish fish pie with the stock and that was pretty tasty too. I now have a gallon of lobster stock in my freezer for future use and I only bought 3 lbs of heads.
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Awesome! I saw the honeycomb and the lobster heads! Now I wanna’ go back! 
wow, missed this thread…looks like some great stuff to be had.
That Wakuo concentrate ramen broth is essentially what some ramen joints use exclusively…ie cheater ramen. And they have sun noodles. someone can really get their ramen fix here.
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now you can make your son’s favorite bestia’s uni pasta, which uses lobster stock.
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I didn’t even think of that! I guess I know what we’re making this weekend. Thanks!
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Made it out today specifically for the sun noodles and cheater ramen base somi paitan. We provided the chasu and egg and all fixings.
Confirms what I already knew—this cheater ramen base tastes exactly like any number of generic ramens joints around town. See this link here for what i’m talking about (is ramen all a sham?) Scary thing is it’s pretty good and you will never know it wasn’t cooked from scratch. Sun noodles were excellent even from frozen. Great for quarantining and sure made dinner easy, but not so great for the blood pressure if you have to watch the Sodium…
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Your bowl looks beautiful!
I’ll have to grab some noodles next time I go. I’m guessing they’re done for the year since the remaining Fridays are holidays.
Did you get anything else from them that you liked? They have such a huge inventory list, I’m still trying to figure out what they have that would be hard to get elsewhere or what’s good pricing on more common items.
I also got frozen cooked lobster meat for lobster rolls…because that’s how most lobster shacks in New England does it! Lol.
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ha, heard that on the sporkful.
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Me too, and thinking back on my trip to Maine, don’t doubt it one bit—these tiny road side shacks serving hundreds of rolls with only one or two employees. No way they cook fresh lobsters.
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My money is on those lobster heads for stock.
I’m so glad you posted what you cooked @hppzz. I was thinking that would be fun but wasn’t sure if I should.
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What?!! I only lived in NE for 10 years and waitressed for some of them… but what do I know? It makes total sense!
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Will try it as soon can find good source for some split top buns, preferably brioche. I have affinity for butter CT style but no problems with mayo either.
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@hppzz I just saw on Tock / Connie & Ted’s sells a six pack of their split top buns for $6.00.
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good to know, thank you!
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Right before quarantine, on our last visit to Trader Joes we saw that they are now carrying brioche split top hot dog buns.
And they are FAB!!! Since we tried these just on a whim… we got one pack… once I get my negative test (please come NAOW) I will be headed to TJ’s and getting a couple of packs as they froze up very well.
Here it is toasted… the brioche really took to butter and light toasting. It did not have that slight sweet taste that can distract from the King’s Hawaiian Rolls (It never really bothered us since we usually add sweet relish to our hot dog and like a little sweetness to our Shrimp, crab and lobster rolls too)
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Looks legit, nice job searing buttered bun!
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Thanks for the tip. I’ve been buying these at Whole Foods and they are quite expensive and often sold out. I’ll have to try TJ.
Hope you are feeling better.
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I got the giant box of lobster shells & heads. Oh Lordy.
The possibilities of frozen uncooked lobster heads were rolling around in my mind… just not the practicalities. If I had thought of the latter I might’ve passed. Glad I didn’t.
I made Lobster Bisque with stock from scratch.
STOCK
Just one of two big bowlfuls. Aren’t they ugly? 
They came intact and needed pounding into small shards. I didn’t go that far but did crack & pound enough for my arms to be tired and frozen - they keep stuff in below zero temps and even after sitting in my kitchen overnight they were frozen together and needed prying apart.
Now there’s that pretty red.
Shells fried in batches in super hot vegetable oil until red.
Shallots, Leaks, Celery, Fennel, Garlic, Brandy, Wine
Removed shells and sautéed Aromatics, Brandy, White Wine, stirred in Tomato Paste, returned Shells & Water.
Remarkably, you’re supposed to bring to a hard boil then only simmer for 15 minutes or else it gets murky. I went a little longer because I had a cajillion times more shells than the recipe, but still went a tad too long and it lost a bit of this pretty color and brightness, but thankfully didn’t destroy it. Let’s just say it was a tad more ocean-y.
A bowl for the foam. Lotsa’ skimming.
Finally, strained everything thru a strainer & cheesecloth, cooled, jarred & fridged for a couple of days… because I needed a break. Don’t ask what we did with the 2 bagfuls of shells & carcasses.
BISQUE
Sautéed Butter, Leeks, Sweet Onion, Garlic, S & P then stirred in Chopped Whole Campari Tomatoes & Tomato Paste, Thyme Sprigs, Bay Leaf, Paprika & Cayenne then Brandy, Sherry & Lobster Stock, generous S&P then boil & simmer 30 minutes.
Removed Thyme & Bay Leaf & strained. Puréed, let cool 15 minutes, whisk together Cream and Cornstarch (I used Instant Potato Flakes), stirred into bisque, boil, simmer, stirring until thickened slightly.
Butter poached & chopped Lobster (also from wh sale)
Bisque!
Croutons
I told hubs if it isn’t good just love me enough to lie to me. No need. It was fan-f-ing-tastic! 
I used Eric Ripert’s stock recipe and Ms Martha Stewart’s bisque recipe and followed both strictly with just a tweak here & there. And I will never do this again on that scale unless I can borrow one of their line cooks and a scullery maid or dude.
Thanks for reading my journey. 
Happy Eating!
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I need the ability to like this like… 50 more times,… AT LEAST!! Great job!
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