# Best way to cook live lobster? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 10, 2006, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-cook-live-lobster/363876 "2006-07-10T15:22:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![McDeath\_the\_Mad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a3d4f5/32.png) [@McDeath\_the\_Mad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/McDeath_the_Mad)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2006, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-cook-live-lobster/363876/41 "2006-07-12T17:38:20Z")
For the record, I steamed all 4 2 pound lobsters at the same time. I rented a 40-Quart pot. I put some rocks that we got from the west coast Vancouver Island (kind of a West meets East theme) in the bottom of the pot, and a modified cooling rack on top of the rocks. I had to steam them for about 28 minutes (yes **Scylla** 28 minutes!), I was using the side burner on my barbecue, and as soon as I put the lobsters in, it stopped boiling. So I had to wait for the water to re-boil. The meat was not at all rubbery, and I have to admit the flavour was considerably better steamed than boiled. Then again even a boiled lobster tastes better than most things in life! Our Icelandic friends were very impressed! MtM ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2006, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-cook-live-lobster/363876/42 "2006-07-12T18:18:11Z")
28 minutes? Why, has HHS come to lock you up yet, you maniac? Iceland? Don’t get me started on those herring-snarfing Scandanavian philistines. WTF do they know about lobsters? 1000 times less than I do, that’s what! Two minutes steaming, _max_, or you may as well go suck on a bicycle tire, food cretin! Respec mah athoratay! ---
**Author:** ![lokij](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/5e9695/32.png) [@lokij](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lokij)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2006, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-cook-live-lobster/363876/43 "2006-07-12T20:12:38Z")
> [@McDeath\_the\_Mad](#): > > Greetings, I’m looking for some advice on cooking live lobsters. **stainz** and I are having some friends from Iceland over for dinner tomorrow night and since they can’t get live lobster in Iceland and they are going home in a couple weeks we decided to cook some lobsters up. So tomorrow I’ll be picking-up 4 lobsters around 2.5-3lbs. > MtM The next time you have lobster and guests, consider grilling them split down the middle over charcoal. I find the smoke and direct heat of a good lump hardwood charcoal fire (such as I enjoy in my Big Green Egg) is the best way to get that really intense lobster flavor. Just be very careful not to overcook, veer on the side of underdone in fact and let the residual heat from the shell finish them off if you have to. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2006, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-cook-live-lobster/363876/44 "2006-07-12T20:25:47Z")
I once read a novel (computer-crime thriller, forget the title) set in New Orleans. In one scene one of the characters shows another his pre-cooking preparation method for crayfish: He puts the live mudbugs in a collander, sets them in the sink, and then douses them with cold water with lots of salt. This forces them to empty their bowels. They can now be cooked, and they’ll come out without all that disgusting green stuff at the tail end. Is this necessary, and would it work? I always thought the green stuff was part of the creature’s nervous system, or something. Would the same treatment be necessry/effective when cooking a lobster? There always seems to be some mushy green stuff at the tail end of a lobster and I’m never sure if you’re supposed to eat it or not. There was a bit of dialogue in [_Mystic Pizza_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095690/) where the family of the rich WASP, Charles, was having lobster for dinner: BOY: Do I have to eat this green stuff? DAD: Why, that’s the best part! CHARLES: Don’t eat it, Billy! It’s the shit! ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2006, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-cook-live-lobster/363876/45 "2006-07-12T23:12:51Z")
> [@Scylla](#): > > Ten of fifteen minutes of boiling a lobster will produce a little hunk of rubber inside the shell. > > 10-15 minutes! Are you insane? > > As for the large pot, that means it will heat slowly. By the time the lobsters are done you will have rich milky water and tough overcooked lobsters. > > If you must boil, one at a time. Small pot, very high heat. Put the lobster in and the water should return to a boil within a minute. From there go for three minutes per pound. > > And for the love of Jesus save the water for stock! > > Trust me. I am the **Lord** of Lobster, the King of crustaceans. the Athority of Arthropods. > > Obey me. RIGHT ON!! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Dijon\_Warlock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9a28c/32.png) [@Dijon\_Warlock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dijon_Warlock)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2006, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-cook-live-lobster/363876/46 "2006-07-13T01:26:01Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > Want to make things fair? Go after the lobster in it’s own environment. Strap on a tank, take a dive and find a hole with some antenna sticking out. Then stick your hand down the hole, and wrestle that sumbitch out. That’s how you make things fair. Naw, what you’re talking about is called [_noodling_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noodling), and it’s how you catch big catfish, not lobsters. No tank involved. (I’m kidding, sort of…but fascinated by this sport, which I’ve never done engaged in.) There was a [rather entertaining documentary](http://www.okienoodling.com/) made about it. There’s a tournament every year in Oklahoma. > [@Okie Noodling website](#): > > There’s nothing quite like the thrill of catching a 60-pound catfish with your bare hands, and that’s just what Oklahoma fishermen have been doing for hundreds of years. [A Google image search](http://images.google.com/images?client=opera&rls=en&q=noodling&sourceid=opera&oe=UTF-8&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi). ---
**Author:** ![Dijon\_Warlock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9a28c/32.png) [@Dijon\_Warlock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dijon_Warlock)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2006, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-cook-live-lobster/363876/47 "2006-07-13T01:28:59Z")
“which I’ve never _done_ engaged in.”?!? Oklahoma is rubbing off on me again. ---
**Author:** ![Scylla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@Scylla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scylla)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2006, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-cook-live-lobster/363876/48 "2006-07-13T02:17:02Z")
> [@McDeath\_the\_Mad](#): > > I had to steam them for about 28 minutes (yes **Scylla** 28 minutes!), I was using the side burner on my barbecue, and as soon as I put the lobsters in, it stopped boiling. So I had to wait for the water to re-boil. > > The meat was not at all rubbery, and I have to admit the flavour was considerably better steamed than boiled. Then again even a boiled lobster tastes better than most things in life! > > Our Icelandic friends were very impressed! > > MtM I’m glad you enjoyed your lobster. Like I said earlier, all steamers are different. Ideally you want to go for the fastest cooking time you can with lobster meat. Steaming though is much better than boiling. Next time try steaming just one quickly and see if you can tell the difference in quality in that. You got a big improvement and a good product by going with steaming. You’ll get another improvement if you can speed up the cooking time. Please tell me that you dispatched the lobsters quickly with a knife before dropping them into the steamer and gave them a quick and noble death. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2006, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-cook-live-lobster/363876/49 "2006-07-13T14:57:03Z")
> [@Dijon Warlock](#): > > Naw, what you’re talking about is called [_noodling_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noodling), and it’s how you catch big catfish, not lobsters. No tank involved. > > (I’m kidding, sort of…but fascinated by this sport, which I’ve never done engaged in.) > > There was a [rather entertaining documentary](http://www.okienoodling.com/) made about it. There’s a tournament every year in Oklahoma. > > [A Google image search](http://images.google.com/images?client=opera&rls=en&q=noodling&sourceid=opera&oe=UTF-8&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi). I was quite serious. Scuba diving for lobster is very popular here in Massachusetts. You have to reach past its claws and grab the carapace. They can lock themselves in their hole with their tail and claws, so getting them out is pretty difficult. Once you have them out, they try to grab you with a claw, which hurts a lot. Actually, what you try to do first is reach behind them with a long stick and tap them gently on the tail. If you do it just right, the lobster thinks there’s something behind it in the hole and comes out, and you grab it then. If you don’t do it just right, it locks itself into the hole and you have to either give up or go in after it. Once you’ve got it out of the hole, there’s a 90% chance it’s either too short, has eggs, or is a V-notched female, so you put it back and try again. ---
**Author:** ![Dijon\_Warlock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9a28c/32.png) [@Dijon\_Warlock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dijon_Warlock)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2006, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-cook-live-lobster/363876/50 "2006-07-15T00:20:49Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > I was quite serious. 😃 Yes, I know you were. I was being just a bit silly (call in Graham Chapman). It’s just that your description of lobster-diving reminded me of the technique for noodling for catfish, which also have feelers (not antennae, _per se_, but still long–although, not _as_ long–wiggly things). When I was a kid, a friend of my dad’s used to go noodling for catfish in the Mississippi river. He’d drink a fifth of Jack Daniel’s (so the stories I’ve heard say), and dive into the river, shoving his hands into any hole that he could find in the bank. Whenever a catfish would latch onto him, he’d drag it out, haul it into the boat, kill it with a buck knife, and haul it home…where he’d behead it and nail the head onto a utility pole on the edge of town as a public trophy… …where it would stink up the neighborhood for weeks. I never went on one of these trips, nor saw him in action, but I DO remember the stinky fish-heads on the pole. Sometimes eight or ten of them at once, and often more than a foot across. ---
**Author:** ![InkBlot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b5e925/32.png) [@InkBlot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InkBlot)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2006, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-cook-live-lobster/363876/51 "2006-07-21T00:00:10Z")
Pardon me, **Scylla** , but I think the biggest reason your physics are unasailable is that they’re shrouded in mist. Or to put it bluntly, you’re a bit vague. I mean, I’m very clear on what you _don’t_ like, but a bit fuzzier on the why’s and wherefore’s of what you do like. Let me just submit [this link.](http://www.goodeatsfanpage.com/Season4/Lobster/LobsterTranscript.htm) Now this, THIS is Science! InkBlot :eek: ---
**Author:** ![The\_Swan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@The\_Swan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Swan)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2006, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-cook-live-lobster/363876/52 "2006-07-21T14:15:59Z")
> [@Scylla](#): > > Ten of fifteen minutes of boiling a lobster will produce a little hunk of rubber inside the shell. > > 10-15 minutes! Are you insane? > > As for the large pot, that means it will heat slowly. By the time the lobsters are done you will have rich milky water and tough overcooked lobsters. > > If you must boil, one at a time. Small pot, very high heat. Put the lobster in and the water should return to a boil within a minute. From there go for three minutes per pound. > > And for the love of Jesus save the water for stock! > > Trust me. I am the **Lord** of Lobster, the King of crustaceans. the Athority of Arthropods. > > Obey me. You’re kidding, right? The times you have provided will produce nothing more than a par-boiled lobster. Jasper White, a James Beard award winner, lists the following times for boiling lobster, and this guy actually does know what he is talking about: 1 pound: 8 minutes 1.25 pound: 9 to 10 1.5: 11 to 12 . . .2 pounds: 15 minutes Now, he is measuring from the time the lobster is placed in the water, but that still doesn’t duplicate what you suggest. Also, if the lobster is cooked in sea water, then the loss of flavor isn’t nearly as bad as you suggest. Though, I do prefer steaming. (I actually prefer pan roasing) ---
**Author:** ![Dijon\_Warlock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9a28c/32.png) [@Dijon\_Warlock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dijon_Warlock)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2006, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-cook-live-lobster/363876/53 "2006-07-21T18:43:34Z")
> [@Sofaspud](#): > > _**(Don’t be put off if the lobsters continue to twitch a little after quartering; it’s a reflexive movement.)**_ > > I gotta say, I love that line. 😃 > > –‘continue to twitch a little’, hee I should note (since I seem to be mostly excluded from this discussion, despite my best feeble efforts to acquire acknowlegement…why won’t anyone LOVE me?!?..:D) that when Julia Child invited Jasper White to demonstrate cooking lobster via this method, the producers of her program didn’t want to show the killing of the beasts, on the grounds that it might be too traumatic to some viewers. Ms. Child put her foot down, declaring that the point of the show was to teach people how to cook, and this was how you did it. Needless to say, she won the argument. They DO continue to twitch (actually, more crawling than twitching), and it IS a bit gruesome to watch. Still, that’s how it’s done. (Source: (IIRC) An episode of American Masters profiling Julia.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-cook-live-lobster/363876.md?page=2)