European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - August 10, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                By Pierre Franey new York times old lobster is one of my favorite summer dishes. I usually serve it with a Mayonnaise Flavoured with fresh herbs plucked from the Garden but recently i added a Little zip to a lunch by making a Dijon Mustard dressing spiked with Jalapeno. This recipe can be made quickly on the stove top or Grill. Whenever steaming lobster make sure the water under the Steamer rack has reached a fast boil and that the lid is secure. If you re not using a rack place the lobsters directly in a shallow Pool of boiling water. Four lobsters each about a Pound and a half should Cook in 10 to 12 minutes. Overcooking causes the meat to become rubbery. I often use sea water when steaming lobsters. If you Don t have Access to clean Ocean water use tap water and Salt it Well to bring out the flavor. The Quick blender sauce Here can be prepared a Day or More in Advance. Add the fresh Basil just before serving. Some of the sauce can be saved to use As an All around hot sauce for fish and grilled poultry. As a Side dish i have prepared a summer vegetable salad with Snow peas tomatoes fresh Corn and carrots. Cold lobster with spicy sauce Salt for cooking water to taste 4 live lobsters about 1vz pounds each 1 egg Yolk 2 Teaspoons Dijon style Mustard 2 Tablespoons red wine vinegar freshly ground Pepper to taste1 /4 Teaspoon Jalapeno Pepper chopped and seeded 1 Clove garlic peeled 1 Large Sweet red Pepper seeded and Cut into Large pieces Viz cup Olive or vegetable Oil 12 fresh Basil leaves. Pour about 2 inches of water or sea water in the Bottom of a Large Steamer. Add Salt unless sea water is used. Bring the water to a boil. Place the lobsters on the Steamer rack and cover the pot. Cook Over High heat for 10 to 12 minutes. Remove the lobsters from the Steamer and let Cool. Split the lobsters in half Lengthwise and crack the claws. Remove and discard the Small Sac near the eyes and the intestine through the Middle of the Tail. Combine All the remaining ingredients and Salt to taste in a blender or food processor and pulse to blend to a Fine texture for a few seconds. Serve the sauce with the  4 Servings. Fresh vegetable salad % Pound carrots trimmed and scraped 1/4 Pound Snow peas Salt to taste 4 red Ripe Plum tomatoes peeled and seeded and Cut into Viz Inch cubes 1 ear fresh Sweet com freshly ground Pepper 3 Tablespoons Balsamic vinegar 3 Tablespoons Olive Oil. Cut the carrots into Inch chunks. Trim the Snow peas and rinse Well. Place the carrots in a Saucepan  enough water to cover them and the peas when they Are added. Add Salt. Bring to a boil and simmer for about 4 minutes. Add the peas to the carrots and Cook for 2 minutes More. The vegetables must remain Crisp and tender. Drain Well. Let Cool. Using a Sharp knife Cut the Corn kernels from the cob. Combine the carrots peas Corn kernels and the remaining ingredients in a mixing bowl. Toss Well and  4 Servings. French potato salad 1v2 Pound red new waxy potatoes salt1 /4 cup dry White wine 1 Tablespoon White vinegar 6 Tablespoons Peanut Oil 3 Tablespoons finely chopped shallots or a cup chopped red onion 1/z Teaspoon finely chopped garlic freshly ground Pepper Viz cup finely chopped Parsley. Put the potatoes with water to cover and Salt in a Saucepan. Bring to a boil and Cook 20 minutes or until potatoes Are tender. Do not overcook. Drain and let stand until ready to prepare. The salad should be made while the potatoes Are still hot or warm. Peel the potatoes and Cut them into 1/4-Inch thick slices. There should be about 6 cups. Put the slices in a bowl and Sprinkle them with the wine. Combine the vinegar Oil shallots garlic Salt and Pepper in a mixing bowl and blend. Add the potatoes and Parsley. Blend Well. If the salad is left to stand stir from the Bottom before  4 Servings. The curious shopper by Sonja Heinze sometimes the Cork in a bottle of wine crumbles when i try to extract it. I would like to know if corks differ in Quality. Generally do cheaper wines have cheaper corks also where do corks come from do they deteriorate with age k. Larsen North Hollywood Calif. According to rotheby s Book of California wine corks certainly do differ in Quality. Cork comes from the bark of the Cork Oak tree most of which grow in Portugal with a Small number in Spain. After a sapling is planted it takes about 40 years before Cork can be obtained from the bark. At the appropriate time the bark is stripped from the Cork tree soaked in very hot water then air dried for several months. It s then graded highest Quality Superior followed by first Quality second Quality and so on. What Quality size or shape of Cork is to be used to Seal a bottle is determined by the length of time the wine is expected to be in the bottle How it will be sorted and various other factors. Obviously a Fine wine that is age worthy will have the finest Cork. Some wine producers Are now using agglomerated corks which Are corks made of pieces of Cork chopped up and glued together and they offer Good Protection for Short periods of time. Age does tend to dry out All corks however which is Why bottles of wine made to be aged Are Laid on their sides. Could you please Tell me the Best Way to make whipped Cream stiff How do you keep the Cream from melting on cakes can a whipped Cream cake be made the Day before or should it be made the same Day Emma Lapallo port Orange Fla. Irma Rombauer in Joy of cooking advises that to get the right texture the bowl beaters and Cream should All be chilled in a refrigerator at least two hours before whipping so that the Mil fat stays firm during whipping rather than becoming oily from the friction involved. To beat Cream with an electric beater says Rombauer turn to medium High Speed until the chilled Cream begins to thicken then lower the Speed and watch like a Hawk. Do not try to whip Cream in a  to prepare the Cream a Day ahead of time and to keep it from melting on cakes or when you want to use it for the filling of a layer cake or Roll that is made a Day in Advance Mimi Sheraton in the German Cookbook suggests that you thicken the Cream with Gelatin. Soften one scant teaspoonful of powdered in Flavoured Gelatin in one Tablespoon of cold water or in any liqueur you May want to use to flavor the Cream. Set Over hot water until Gelatin dissolves. Whip one and one half cups heavy Sweet Cream adding sugar dissolved Gelatin and a Little More liqueur or Flavouring As needed when Cream begins to thicken. Chill until ready to serve or spread on cake or cake Roll and store in refrigerator until serving time. Erma Bombeck while everyone makes a Flap Over the soft drink wars another one is raging out of control. The Cereal War. You can t watch television for 10 minutes anymore without a couple coming to grips with what they re eating for breakfast. I can t marry you chides a woman Over breakfast. You Don t have enough fiber in your  in another commercial a Young girl pops Over to her Boyfriend s House in the morning eating a danish and when she looks at his bowl of Cereal snaps what s that an Experiment there s one couple where the wife picks up an empty Box of Cereal and says menacingly to her husband did you eat the last of the cavity Crispien you get the feeling their future and the future of their children ride on his answer. I thought things were bad a few years ago when brother lined up against brother and Mikey became the food taster. If he ate it and his head did t fall in the milk it was of for the rest of them to give it a shot. Sounds shakespearean but compared to today s Competition it was tame. I Don t know when Cereal got to be so important. Maybe when a Box of Grain that has All the Appeal of a Tongue wrapped around a silo got to be $2.30 a Box. What we have Here people is another major parting of the species. Another reason to choose a Side. It joins the list of Dukakis is. Bush supporters waxed dental floss users is. Untaxed dental floss users smokers is. Non smokers or whether the song new York new York belongs to Frank Sinatra or Liza Minnelli. The Cereal civil War has pitted Good nutrients against the body temples of Boomers. You can just about guess which Camp my husband is in and which Side i m on. He passes out pamphlets in airports telling people what is in their hot dogs. Someone once threw me a Small Brown hairy Kiwi fruit and 1 threw a wastebasket Over it until it was dead. It will probably be Only a matter of time before i am sneaking off to the basement to eat a Cereal loaded with sugar that my kids eat. Or engaging in Mouth to Mouth combat with someone Over How i maintain my Iron Supply without two scoops of raisins in my Cereal each morning. Like religion politics and family planning Cereal is not a topic to be brought up in Public. It s too controversial. But i think about it a lot. The other evening i watched a commercial involving three police officers in a heated discussion about which of their personal cereals gave them the most nutrients. I got to wondering if they knew i ate cold Apple pie for breakfast would they be there for me c 1988 Erma Bombeck Page 16 the stars and stripes wednesday August 10,1988