Lobster Cutlets

After paying $52.20 for the lobster, I was in two minds about coating it in what's essentially a form of glue and then frying it. But lobster was popular in the 1920s, so I'll try it another way next time.

One medium-sized eastern rock lobster

30g butter

1 tbsp flour plus extra flour

1 cup milk

1 teasp lemon juice

1 egg, beaten

Fresh breadcrumbs

Oil for shallow frying

Salt, Cayenne pepper

Melt the butter in a small saucepan, add the flour and cook for a few seconds, then pour in the milk and stir until it boils, reduce heat and stir until it thickens, season with salt, cayenne and lemon juice. Add the lobster, which has been cut into small pieces, turn onto a plate to cool.

When cold, divide into equal portions and form into cutlet shapes, then dip in flour, pepper and salt. Glaze with beaten egg, cover in breadcrumbs and fry in boiling fat until light golden brown. Place a small piece of claw in the end of each cutlet.

As it turned out, this was the star dish of the evening. Crumbing the cutlets was the tricky part. I used a tablespoon to shape them, then turned each side in the flour, painted with beaten egg and finally coated with crumbs. In the cooking, the béchamel melted again and the salt, cayenne and lemon juice removed any clagginess. Served plain - the claws looked like orange plastic sticks rather than an organic part of the "cutlet" - they needed only a lemon wedge for garnish.

Episode 1 - Cocaine Blues

The five-course menu I created in advance of this episode bears little resemblance to the food and drink actually consumed in it, but you could say it's thematically linked. Phryne drank cosmopolitans, champagne (twice) and tea, but the only food that passed her lips was a piece of plain toast. The murder victim also had toast, with cumquat marmalade, but it was laced with arsenic or strychnine.

Like Phyrne's cosmopolitans and the victim's cumquat marmalade, the menu of oyster cocktails, Waldorf salad, lobster cutlets, sauteed rabbit and quince fool is predominantly red: the tomato in the oyster cocktail, the lobster's flecks of coral, red wine in the rabbit and the blood red of the quinces.

This 1920's menu is anything but bland: Tabasco, Worchestershire and Cayenne add heat, celery lends crispness and colour, and the lemon cuts the oil and flour in the cutlets.