The Founder's Puerto Hawaii Lobster

45 min with the salsa · Intermediate · 1 lobster per person

Puerto Nuevo is the lobster village south of Rosarito, and its method is the point: split spiny lobster flash-FRIED in bubbling fat until the meat browns and blisters, then stacked on the table with warm tortillas, refried beans, rice, and butter. The founder ate it there across years of Baja trips — and here's the secret that makes the fusion honest: Baja's bug and Hawaii's ula are the same animal. No claws, all tail, both shores.

So this is that plate with Hawaii folded in. Garlic-shoyu butter instead of plain drawn butter. Coconut rice instead of Spanish. A salsa whose tomatoes, jalapeños, and pineapple went through kiawe smoke first. The refried beans stay exactly as they are — that's the Baja soul of the plate, and you don't fix soul.

The Numbers

• Tallow: 350-375F in the pan, IR gun
• Pull At: 135-140F — past 140 it's rubber
• Time: 10-12 min fry + 45 min salsa smoke
• Burn: Kiawe lump + chips over the pan

Ingredients

• 2 spiny lobsters, split lengthwise, cleaned, patted VERY dry — wet meat spatters and steams
• Beef tallow, about 1/4 inch deep in the pan
• Garlic-shoyu butter: 1 stick butter + 3 crushed garlic cloves + 1 Tbsp shoyu + a splash of chili pepper water, melted together
• Kiawe-smoked molcajete salsa: 2 garlic cloves + 1 tsp coarse salt + a pinch of cumin, ground to a paste in the molcajete FIRST — then 4 halved Roma tomatoes, 2 whole jalapeños, and 2 thick pineapple rings (all smoked 45 min at 225-250F over kiawe) worked in until chunky. A squeeze of lime, rest an hour.
• The founder's pineapple pico (optional second topping — fresh-chopped, never in the molcajete): 250g Roma tomatoes, seeded + diced · 250g fresh pineapple, finely diced · 90g onion, diced · 20-25g jalapeño, finely minced · 12-14g fresh cilantro, chopped · 28-30g fresh lime juice · 5g kosher salt, then adjust
• Pico technique: the pineapple and the jalapeño go through kiawe smoke FIRST — ride them along in the same 45-minute session as the salsa vegetables — then cool and dice. Everything else stays raw and cold. The pineapple replaces tomato, it doesn't join it: total fruit stays at 500g, and the split slides to taste (300/200 tomato-forward if a batch reads sweet). If the onion bites too sharp, rinse it under cold water and drain well.
• Warm flour tortillas — a tall stack
• Refried beans and coconut rice
• Lime wedges + the pepper water bottle on the table

Method

1. Salsa first (or the day before): tomatoes, jalapeños, and pineapple into kiawe smoke at 225-250F for 45 minutes. While they smoke, grind the salt, garlic, and cumin to a paste in the molcajete — the paste is the foundation, and the order is the technique. Work the smoked vegetables and pineapple into the paste until chunky, squeeze of lime, rest an hour minimum.
2. Flat-top or big cast iron over kiawe lump, chips on the coals so smoke rolls over the pan. Tallow in — 350-375F in the fat on the IR gun. Hotter scorches the tallow; cooler and the lobster soaks instead of fries.
3. Lobster halves meat-side down into the tallow, 2-3 minutes — browned, blistered, edges crisping. This is the Puerto Nuevo move: it's a fry, not a grill.
4. Flip shell-side down and spoon hot tallow over the meat for 2 more minutes. Pull at 135-140F.
5. Off the fire, brush immediately with the garlic-shoyu butter — warm meat drinks it in.
6. Serve village-style: everything on the table at once — tortilla, smear of beans, spoon of coconut rice, chunk of lobster, smoked salsa, a last drip of butter. The Puerto Nuevo rule holds: the lobster never touches a plate. Tortilla or nothing.

On the Side

• Coconut Rice — the Hawaii swap for Spanish rice
• Refried Beans — untouched - the Baja soul