Hancock Gourmet Lobster Review and Giveaway

I love most food...but if you made me pick only one type of food to eat for the rest of my life, I'd definitely have to go with seafood! Growing up on the Texas Gulf Coast, I developed a love for Gulf shrimp and my Grandpa Wofford's fresh-caught fish. One thing we didn't eat much of was lobster...it's not locally sourced, so it was an expensive treat that we rarely splurged on. Thanks to my friends at Hancock Gourmet Lobster, today I can enjoy their award-winning lobster and shellfish straight from Maine to my front door in Texas. I've featured their gift packs in my Holiday Gift Roundup and my Valentine's Gift Guide, so I can personally vouch that the quality of their product is top notch. Hancock Gourmet Lobster was founded by Cal Hancock in 2000 to share her love of Maine lobster to those of us who live miles away from the Maine shore!

The products are flash frozen and shipped via overnight or two-day delivery to ensure they arrive pristinely fresh. The seafood can be cooked immediately, or frozen for enjoying later. To celebrate the imminent arrival of Summer, Cal sent me their signature Maine Shore Dinner to try out in my kitchen. This sampler contains two lobster tails, a dozen mussels, eight large shrimp, eight sea scallops, and two ears of corn...along with herbed lemon butter sauce. The sampler arrived overnight and was still frozen when I opened the box. Inside was a foil pan enclosed in a double-layer foil bag. Between the layers of the foil were smoky Alder chips, designed to give a subtle smoky flavor to the finished product. 
The Maine Shore Dinner was a snap to make. I opened up the foil bag so I could snap a picture of how the product looks inside. As the picture shows, the pieces of seafood and corn are large and plentiful -- this is easily enough food for 2-3 people once you add some crusty French bread to the table. The two disks of lemon butter melt as the seafood cooks, flavoring all of the contents of the packet. After placing the roasting pan back inside the foil pouch and sealing, it cooked in a hot oven for 45 minutes. The package can also be prepared outside on your patio grill if you prefer.

After 45 minutes, I cut a slit in the foil with a sharp knife and transferred the contents of the pan to a large shallow serving bowl. I sprinkled a bit of our favorite seafood seasoning on top just before serving, along with some hot French bread for dipping into the flavorful butter sauce. The seafood cooked up sweet and tender...with a very subtle smoky flavor and aroma from the Alder chips. A squeeze of lemon was the final, perfect touch.

The Maine Shore Dinner was a perfect treat on a warm Texas evening! The lobster tail cooked up succulent and juicy, the scallops and shrimp were plump and sweet, and the mussels were perfectly buttery thanks to the sauce in the pouch. The corn was the perfect sweet addition too -- and the crusty bread was perfect for dipping in the flavorful sauce. This seafood sampler is indeed a taste of Maine in the heart of Texas...we absolutely loved it! 

Now, one of you is going to get to try out this fabulous lobster yourself. One lucky reader is going to have a chance to try Hancock Gourmet Lobster -- just in time for Memorial Day weekend! Cal was kind enough to provide a $100 gift card good toward any Hancock Gourmet Lobster product. To enter, follow the instructions below. I'll accept entries until Saturday, May 17th at 11:59 p.m. I'll notify the winner via email on Sunday. Good luck!

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Disclosure: Hancock Gourmet Lobster provided me with a complimentary Maine Shore Dinner to facilitate this article. All opinions expressed are my own.