These Spicy Lobster Bao Will Blow Your Mind

It’s Monday. Time to live just a little bit more as you dive back into the workweek.

That means you should feel no hesitation about going out and picking yourself up a lobster, a.k.a. the meal of choice for 17th-century prisoners.

But you don’t need to eat yours on the fetid floor of some antediluvian gaol, or however they spelled it back then. You should take your little sea bug and turn it into delicious lobster bao.

Lucky for you, Dale Talde shared this recipe with us, and buying the lobster is the hardest part of the job. While you’re out, head to your local Asian market and pick up some gua bao (those hamburger-like frozen Chinese buns), along with some scallions and cilantro.

Back home, cook up your lobster—or procure some cooked meat, in case you don’t feel like murdering a crustacean tonight—and make some sriracha-infused butter. Give the meat a quick bath in your spicy butter, layer into your warmed bun, and top with the herbs.

Prison food ain’t so bad, is it?