Canadians are contesting New Hampshire’s supposedly record-breaking lobster roll
Does it count if it's not one continuous roll?
Perhaps not since the Pork and Beans War has New England been engaged in such an inconsequential food-related dispute with its northern neighbors. But here we are.
Last weekend, the Portsmouth, New Hampshire location of the local pub chain British Beer Company set out to break the record for the world’s longest lobster roll, previously set last September by the Prince Edward Island Fishermen’s Association.
And according to the Portsmouth restaurant, they did it — beating the Canadians’ 120-foot-long roll with a heaping creation just shy of 160 feet.
https://www.facebook.com/BritishBeerPortsmouth/videos/1447395855295777/
According to The Boston Globe, the allegedly record-breaking roll contained about 110 pounds of lobster meat and three gallons of mayo, as well as a truly massive amount of celery, lemons, and hot sauce.
However, it’s the bread with which the previous record-holders up north are taking issue.
“Was that one long continuous piece?” Melanie Giffin, a representative for the P.E.I. fishermen’s group, told New Hampshire’s Union Leader, claiming that the bread must be a single, unbroken piece to be eligible to set the record.
James Gibney, the executive chef British Beer Company, did not dispute Giffin’s suspicion, but turned the implication back around at his Canadian accuser. Per the Union Leader:
“No one in the world has an oven that can bake a 120-foot roll,” he said —including PEI, according to Gibney, who said he’s studied online photos of the Canadian lobster roll.
“You can clearly see what looks like foot-long (rolls) linked together,” Gibney said. The Portsmouth effort relied on 5-foot lengths of braided, sesame-seed roll baked in Massachusetts. Workers cut off the ends and sleeved them into one another, he said.
In response to the counter-accusations, Giffin reportedly insisted their 120-foot-long roll was made on one long piece of white bread, baked at a local P.E.I. bakery. However, she refused to get into the specifics of how such a creation was made.
“We can’t tell you our secrets, can we?” she told the Union Leader.
While that cagey answer may smell (shell)fishy, evidence from last year’s and past events appear to back up Giffin’s claim.
As CBC has reported, the P.E.I Fishermen’s Association and another group from New Brunswick have been battling in a back–and–forth record-breaking lobster roll competition for at least two years. And at the heart of the friendly food fight has been the continuity of the roll’s bread, which — in addition to being an established requirement — has reportedly been a central challenge in creating such a lengthy roll.
“To bake the bread is the biggest preparation that we have,” Pierre Cormier, a member of the Shediac Chamber of Commerce, the New Brunswick group, told CBC last July. “The piece of bread needs to be one continuous piece meaning we have to bake it in a continuous oven.”
Despite Gibney’s claim, photos from the past events appear to show one continuous roll, baked through a conveyer oven. The task has reportedly taken up to 12 hours.
Here’s a look from an event in September 2015:
https://www.facebook.com/PEIshellfish/photos/a.1009460162429991.1073741857.195019913874024/1009460195763321/?type=3&theater
https://www.facebook.com/PEIshellfish/photos/a.1009460162429991.1073741857.195019913874024/1009461949096479/?type=3&theater
And from last September’s event:
https://www.facebook.com/PEIshellfish/photos/a.211028578939824.53820.195019913874024/1259236957452309/?type=3&theater
https://www.facebook.com/PEIshellfish/photos/a.211028578939824.53820.195019913874024/1259236960785642/?type=3&theater
So at least by Canadian standards, the valiant chefs in New Hampshire may have to try again if they want to make a true record-breaking lobster roll.
Fortunately for all involved in this simmering dispute, another purported requisite is that the entire creation must be eaten. So really, there are no losers.
