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!
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!
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.
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 where the family of the rich WASP, Charles, was having lobster for dinner:
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.
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.
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.
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. Now this, THIS is Science!
InkBlot
:eek:
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)
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.)
Yes, I know you were. I was being just a bit silly (call in Graham Chapman).