Pasta, Rice or Grain 2008

Outstanding Pasta, Rice or Grain 2008: Hancock Gourmet Lobster Co. Port Clyde Lobster Mac & Cheese

Named after a small Maine fishing village, this year’s outstanding Pasta, rice or grain, Port Clyde Lobster Mac & Cheese, arrives frozen. Once defrosted, it can be on the table in 30 minutes—creating an instant comfort meal.

“In developing this product, I wanted to make a Mac & Cheese that wasn’t too cheesy. We needed to make sure that it didn’t hide the taste of the lobster, but truly enhanced it,” says Cal Hancock, founder of the Hancock Gourmet Lobster Company, Harpswell, Maine, which launched the product last January. “We use a rich mascarpone cheese as well as a touch of Cheddar in the sauce. We chose the shell pasta because it works with the seafood idea but also because the pasta is a little softer and holds the sauce well. And of course we use sweet chunks of Maine lobster,” she adds. All this is topped with a crunchy mix of panko bread crumbs, herbed butter, lemon zest and Parmesan cheese.

The packaging, featuring a lobster on the logo and an illustration of a Maine coastline, establishes to customers the origins of the product. But it is in the sampling that people really take notice. “The response to the flavor is overwhelming,” notes Hancock. “And when they try it, customers understand that it has a lot of lobster, not just a touch.” Suggested retail price: $29 and up/two 9-ounce casseroles; hancockgourmetlobster.com.—Susan Segrest 

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