What’s the trickiest thing about making the world’s longest lobster roll? A hint: It has nothing to do with lobster.
“I think the hardest part is probably going to make sure the bun comes out correctly,” said Alan A. Casucci, a spokesman for Linda Bean’s Perfect Maine, a lobster company.
Linda Bean’s Perfect Maine is joining with the Portland, Maine, community group West End Neighborhood Association to build what they hope will be a record-setting lobster roll on June 7.
If all goes according to plan, the roll will be 60 feet in length, with 45 pounds of meat donated by Linda Bean’s.
Of course, a 60-foot lobster roll will require a 60-foot bun. The creation of that bun, Casucci said, will fall to two local bakeries — Amato’s and J.J. Nissan — which will bake the roll in an industrial oven. A flatbed truck will be used to carry the bun from the oven to the site of Portland’s annual Old Port Fest, where school children will help stuff the roll.
Four-inch-long slices of the roll, along with a drink and a bag of potato chips, will be sold for a donation of $20 each. The donations will be used to help fund summer swimming lessons for children living in Portland’s West End.
The event was conceived by Michael Whittaker, a Portland librarian and a member of the West End Neighborhood Association. An event involving lobster was the natural choice, Whittaker said.
“We are here in Maine after all,” Whittaker said. “It is the iconic Maine treat.”
