My wonderful son, who is 19 and out on his own now, is coming over for Christmas dinner and I want to serve him something special. So I decided on roast beef, and lobster. Here in California, lobster is seldom seen and pretty danged expensive. I don’t believe he’s ever had it, but he loves seafood and I know he’ll like it.
Okay, here’s the questions. I have received good advice about a market nearby that has very fresh, presumably live, crustaceans. I have also heard that you want to buy the whole lobster, so that the meat isn’t mooshy. So:
If they only have live lobsters, and assuming I’m buying them on the 23rd because they won’t be open on Christmas Eve or Day, what do I do? Should I take them home, boil them, and refrigerate until Christmas Day? I really, really hate killing things. Last time I cooked a live crab, I cried. Is it possible to have them kill it before I take it home?
I was kinda thinking they might be good broiled, but you can’t do that with a whole lobster, right?
Is it possible that such a market might sell fresh tails? Would this not be advisable for best results? Am I likely to find some other form of already-killed lobster?
I know nothing, I have only eaten lobster in restaurants. Thanks for your advice.
They’ll be fine in the fridge for a day or two. I’d put 'em in a box with some wet paper towels in the bottom.
That’s gonna depend on the store, but once they’re offed you need to use them quick or at least clean them.
The tails broil beautifuly if you just want to do those.
Any tails you find will likely be frozen, however The store may be willing to let you buy them whole and then take the claws and tails off for you so you can have fresh ones.
Sure, once the tail and claws are off they’ll be fine for a day or two. It’s worth noting that lobster tail, like shrimp, has a mud vein. I like to open the top of the tail with a scissors and take it out before steaming as it kind of squicks me out.
If you’re having roast beef as well you could split a lobster between you, 1/2 a tail and a nice claw would be plenty for an accompaniment to a roast beef dinner. Personally that’s how I’d plan it - 1/2 lobster per person, and I like to steam them and serve simply with melted butter. I’d also crack the claw with the back of a knife before steaming (but leave the shell on, just break it) as it can be a bit of a pain to deal with gracefully at the dining table.
ETA - frozen tails are bad and easier to deal with, might be the way to go if you’re finding this overwhelming and again 1/2 a tail is still a nice addition to a roast beef dinner (if you cann afford to splurge for a whole tail per person them by all means).
My partner is a fishmonger, so I know ‘something’ about this.
If you are going to buy live and kill them yourself, put them in the freezer for a short while before you boil them – not enough to actually freeze them solid – this has the effect of ‘sending them to sleep’, so removing the distress of boiling them alive. For freshness, I would probably cook them Christmas Eve, but the 23rd would be fine. If this, keep them in the fridge (live) covered in paper or a towel. They will sleep/not move if their eyes are covered.
Fishmongers near me also cook lobsters themselves on the premises to order, so it might be worth asking them about whether they do this.
An aside: my other half says you shouldn’t throw a live crab into a boiling pot as, aside from the cruelty, the claws are likely to fall off. You instead have to kill them first by shoving a poker up their bum, or through the eyes, I can’t remember which. Not for the squeemish. You don’t have to do this with lobster.
If you’re up to it, broiling a whole lobster is pretty impressive. With a heavy butcher knife, cut the lobster in half. Position the halves on a shallow roasting pan and brush lightly with butter, then put under the broiler. Check frequently, as there will be some movement and the claws can get too close to the heat source and burn. Brush with butter each time you check. You can tell done-ness by evaluating the exposed meat in the tail.
Don’t go crazy getting a huge lobster. For a New England Lobster (that is, with claws) go for about 1 1/2 lbs, if you can-- the really big ones don’t taste as good. And if it’s just the two of you, that one lobster will be fine for both of you, along with the roast beef.
When you serve it, pre-cut the tail along the bottom side and crack the claws. It’ll make the eating process easier.
If you cook 2 lobsters, don’t worry-- eat the leftovers like you would pre-cooked crab or shrimp. Yum!!
This is utterly false. Any raw lobster meat will go bad very quickly. It’s got nothing to do with cleaning them - enzymes in the meat itself start to break down the flesh as soon as the animal is dead. The meat will fall apart and be grainy if the lobster has been dead for any time before cooking. That’s why they’re cooked live, or killed immediately before cooking.
Any lobster meat you buy in the store will be already cooked. I know here in New England, supermarkets will also steam a live lobster for you if you want.
Live losters will live for up to a week if kept cold and dark. Keep them in the fridge in a paper bag. If a lobster dies before you can cook it, put it in the freezer. Kept cold, the meat will not degenerate quickly, frozen, not at all. It will be more useful if you take the meat out before freezing. The best way to cook lobster is steaming. A good sized lobster is 1 1/2 - 2 1/2 pounds. About 10 to 12 minutes of full steam for that weight range. Over cooking will toughen the meat. You are better off with a lobster that has large claws and a small tail because the tail takes longer to cook. Cooking and eating lobster goes better with experience, so practice by eating lobster often.
The lobsters will probably come packed in ice, just leave them there until you are ready for them - add ice if needed. As mentioned above, the cold numbs them and slows down their nerve response.
The kindest way to kill them is to plunge them quickly into boiling salted water. This is harder than it sounds, and I highly reccommend one of those silicone gloves to cover your hand. Commercial steamers do the best job, so ask your supermarket or seafood shop if they can do it for you. (Many will let you order in advance andpickup your lobsters just befre dinnertime.) Please don’t try to steam them with home equipment, it will take a long time and you don’t want to listen to it rustling around in there. You may hear lots of ideas about cutting them in half with a butcher knife and such; don’t fall for it. Their brains are miniscule, and the chances of you hitting it just right are even smaller.
Get the biggest pot you can (the wider the circumference, the less trouble you’ll have getting them in) and have the water at a strong rolling boil before you put the lobster in. Grab it by the back, and plunge it head first. When you pick it up the claws will spread wide so just push one against the side of the pot and plunge the rest in.
Any leftover meat should be removed from the shell immediately and mixed with Miracle Whip, freshly cracked pepper and a tiny pinch of salt. Serve for lunch next day on a potato-roll (hot dog bun.)
The choicest morsel on the lobster is called the saddle, and it’s a strip of meat at the top of the tail. So if you want to clean out the mudline be careful not to wreck the best part. I’ve always found that the contents of the mudline cook up hard and fall right out when I open the tail, so it’s never bothered me. Here’s a good reference on how to eat them. I personally want nothing to do with tomalley, but if you get roe, boil it and the shells into a broth and make something with it next day.
My last piece of advice: melt more butter than you can possibly imagine using, and don’t separate it. There’s something about the butter solids that makes the lobster flavor sing.
We lived in Boston for a while, and when people came to visit we would cook lobster. Actually, my husband was in charge of the actual cooking, but I did learn a bit by watching him.
The previous posters have covered it pretty well, but here is my summary: buy the lobsters and keep them alive in the fridge until ready to use. Get a BIG pot of boiling water going. We used a 20-quart pot. Make sure the water is boiling rapidly before you put the lobster in. You may have to wait for the water to come back to a boil before putting in additional lobsters. When you take them out, hold them claws-down over a sink and snip the tips of the claws off with kitchen shears and let the water drain out. This will ensure that there is not a puddle of water on your plate. Let them cool for a bit and have at them! Make sure you have a few nutcrackers and picks to help get the meat out of the claws.
Lobster is pretty tasty, but in my opinion is mainly a vehicle for butter. Yum!
I worked in Cambridge and my favorite lobster shop was in downtown Boston. I would take the subway there after work and buy the lobsters. They would go to the big vats in the back, fish out a few lobsters, weigh them, and put them in a brown paper bag. Then I would take them back on the subway with me. The subway is nice and warm, so sometimes they would start to get a little frisky. Folks would look a little askance at the moving bag between my feet.
Ha, I have been on the bus in Oakland with Chinese housewives who had live chickens in their bags!
I have de-veined live crawfish before; you just grasp the middle tail fin, twist, and pull. I was wondering if I would have to do that.
Obviously it would make sense to just go down there beforehand and see what they have, but apparently they don’t speak English and you just have to point.
<sigh> I just hate the idea of keeping the poor thing prisoner in a cold place with rubber bands on its claws, but maybe I better steel myself.
According to America’s Test Kitchen, there is such a thing as hard shell and soft shell lobsters. It has to do with when they molted. If at all possible, get a hard shell one as there will be more meat and it will be less watery.
