Lobster rolls – get your claws in

What's posh on the inside, cheap on the outside and delicious all over? The answer is lobster rolls, the New England classic that's become the feelgood hit of the summer this side of the Atlantic. They're the champagne socialist of sandwiches: hoity-toity lobster meat crammed into a humble hotdog bun. And I mean crammed – there's an indecent amount of sweet, firm lobster flesh packed into your average roll.

Lobster rolls began life in Connecticut in the late 1920s when a restaurant called Perry's had the genius idea of de-shelling the beast and serving it in a bun to save punters the work. They're now a staple of the summer season in New England, with devotees arguing over the best Maine crab shack or whether the lobster should be served warm with melted butter or cold, tumbled with mayonnaise and celery.

They were a rarity in Britain until a few years ago. Hawksmoor in London was one of the first restaurants to go big on the lobster roll after co-owner Huw Gott was inspired by "a hot lobster roll I had at Red's Eats in Maine – freshly steamed lobster smothered in butter – a revelation". This summer, B.O.B's Lobster has recreated a New England crab shack at London's Street Feast market, serving up a quarter pound of native lobster meat in a "custom six-inch toasted brioche roll, which took us two months to perfect", says founder Rob Dann. But it was the monstrously successful Burger and Lobster that really put lobster rolls on the UK food map. It now has five branches and owner Goodman Restaurants is opening a lobster roll deli.

It's not just a London thing. You'll find lobster rolls on the menu everywhere from major cities (Neighbourhood in Manchester, Chip + Fish in Leeds) to far-flung tiny crab shacks – Café Mor in Pembrokeshire (where the lobster is dressed with hot Welsh sea black butter), The Lobster Store in Crail, Fife and the Dungeness Fish Hut in Kent.

So why are they only taking off in Britain now? "Tackling the lobster roll feels like a logical progression of the gourmet-ised fast-food trend," says Gott, adding: "Restaurants are taking themselves a bit less seriously – more places are focusing on food people actually want to eat instead of unlikely combinations stacked, tweezered and foamed."

Lobster rolls are a natural fit for an island nation surrounded by the crustacean. About 1,899 tonnes of lobster worth £20m were landed in the UK last year, according to provisional figures from the Marine Management Organisation. Much of this lobster is exported, yet the UK imports around 1,800 tonnes of North American lobster a year. "Lobsters in the US are significantly cheaper," says Gott, because they are landed in much greater quantities. "By 2012, Canada landed 71,528 tonnes with the US close behind at 67,829 for a record high total of 139,357 tonnes," says Alex Kaveen, Sustainability and Data Advisor at Seafish.

Most lobster lovers I spoke to think British is best – because those Yankee lobsters just have too far to travel. "After their journey to the UK – alive(ish) or frozen – the texture of the meat breaks down and the flavour dulls. You get woolly, unidentifiable lumps of protein. For a lobster roll to be at its best, it needs to be made with lobsters recently plucked from around our shores – which are much more expensive, but worth it on both flavour and ethical grounds," says Gott.

The ethics are, of course, a factor. The RSPCA recommends buying "pre-killed" rather than live lobsters and is critical of the storage tanks used by some places. "Sadly, in restaurants they can be in tanks which are far too small for the number stored," says a spokesperson. Sustainability-wise, it's partly good news, though. European lobster fisheries haven't yet been assessed as truly sustainable, however, "[lobster] potting is one of the most sustainable fishing methods," says the Marine Conservation Society, although they're less enthusiastic about stocks in America, particularly in Southern New England, where they're currently depleted.

This makes the case for sourcing those costlier UK lobsters, which brings us back to price – it is a bit of a stumbling block, with lobster rolls selling for between £13 and £25, even from humble shacks. But there's nothing to stop you making your own. Source the lobster from a decent fishmonger or crab shack (you'll find them dotted all around the UK coast) and your buns from M&S, which is doing some decent brioche hotdog rolls this summer. Then all you have to decide is whether to go for melted butter or mayo. The season's most decadent snack awaits.