1. You'll start with cooked lobster meat. Lobster salad is great when made with claw and knuckle meat, leaving the tails for other preparations — but you can use any parts you've got. You can buy it cooked or do it yourself.
2. You can use a good-quality supermarket mayo, an easy homemade version, or an extra-savory option: Kewpie mayo. This Japanese brand is creamier, tangier, and more umami-fied than its American counterpart.
3. A tiny bit of fresh tarragon makes the perfect enhancement. If you're not a fan of the flavor, you can use snipped chives instead — or use both.
4. Serving suggestions: Lobster salad is divine as-is, tucked into a skillet-toasted top-split bun, on a simple sandwich with lettuce and tomato (and, hey, bacon or avocado, if you like), or as pictured, perched atop a simple leafy green salad.
5. You can make the salad up to about 24 hours in advance and keep in an airtight container in the fridge. Just give it a good stir and let it sit at room temperature for 10 minutes or so to take the chill off before serving. Leftovers will keep for two to three days, if you can manage to hide them for that long.

Suggested additions and variations

• If you're making lobster salad from the leftovers of a lobster boil and have some cooked potato left over, consider adding it, either as a substitute for a portion of the lobster meat (to quickly reduce the cost of the meal) or in addition to the full quantity of lobster.
• If you like, you can stir in a cup of corn kernels for a bit of starchy sweetness.
• Try a couple of tablespoons of drained capers for flecks of satisfying savoriness.
• Add a tablespoon of snipped chives, a couple of sliced scallions, a minced small shallot, or two tablespoons of minced red onion for a bit of vibrance.
• Crumble a few strips of cooked bacon and stir those in.
• If you're adding a lot of substantial ingredients, double the dressing.