# Cooking lobster in a humane way?? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 13, 2003, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooking-lobster-in-a-humane-way/174873 "2003-05-13T04:38:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2003, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooking-lobster-in-a-humane-way/174873/41 "2003-05-14T01:30:41Z")
> [@](#): > > The only thing to add is it must be a Maine lobster. All others are pale imitations of the real thing. > > No snappery claws? No lobstery goodness. Nope. Pacific lobster is better. None of those tough-to-crack claws to deal with. All tail. Sweet, delicious tail… Anyone remember that Far Side cartoon that shows a cook just about to thrust a lobster into a pot of boiling water? The lobster says: “Three wishes? Did I say _three_ wishes? Heck, I’ll give you _four_ wishes!” ---
**Author:** ![OxyMoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e9a140/32.png) [@OxyMoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OxyMoron)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2003, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooking-lobster-in-a-humane-way/174873/42 "2003-05-14T01:43:26Z")
There’s a whole series of great Far Side lobster cartoons - my favorite is the chef who puts the lobster in a dunking chair above the pot and throws balls at it. Seriously, the easy way to deal with the lobster is to chuck him in the pot. I don’t know if lobsters are like crabs, which sometimes get rebellious - but the solution to that is to put a brick on the lid. Now, the NZ site’s business about boiling making the lobster chewy - not sure if that applies to our lobsters. I’ve had lots of boiled lobster that was heavenly. Roasting’s good, too, but that means the who splitting thing, which seems to be to be a lot of work. ---
**Author:** ![occ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8c91f0/32.png) [@occ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/occ)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2003, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooking-lobster-in-a-humane-way/174873/43 "2003-05-14T04:14:16Z")
Continuing the needless hijack, I’d just have to say: why would a lobster have any reason to feel pain? The exoskeleton doesn’t have any nerves to transmit such signals, does it? As well, once the exoskeleton is breached in the wild (by a predator, typically), the lobster is toast – pain would be unnecessary at this point. Therefore, why would a lobster have evolved the ability to sense what we call pain? ---
**Author:** ![mmmiiikkkeee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/edb3f5/32.png) [@mmmiiikkkeee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mmmiiikkkeee)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2003, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooking-lobster-in-a-humane-way/174873/44 "2003-05-14T07:36:08Z")
Well if the highjack _must continue_, I’ll just make it short. A lobster could use a sense of pain for the same reason any other organism including us could - to tell it that something is terribly wrong and to motivate it to get the hell out of there. Our fingernails and tooth enamel don’t have pain receptors either, but once something gets past those barriers the nerves underneath give us two of the _most_ painful sensations we have - just imagine having a drill bit boring a hole through your finger nail or molar… squeemish yet 😉 ? No, if the exoskeleton is breached the lobster is not automatically toast any more than we are toast once our skin gets ruptured by a dog bite. It’s fairly common for lobsters to have a leg or claw ripped off and then escape by getting outta there. There are also parasites that can bore into or get under the exoskeleton. If all they felt was a little pressure indication (or nothing at all) when something was eating them alive or tearing them apart, they’d have no reason to try and remedy the situation in a hurry. Pain is the one thing that’ll motivate and move an organism’s ass faster than anything day or night, so I don’t see any reason for anything large enough to do something about protecting it’s self _not_ to have a sense of pain - it’s a very rudimentary and handy trait, not some new-fangled elitist fad sensation to life that sprung up just recently. But like I said - I’d boil a lobster live, this isn’t meant as an argument against that… there are other threads on whether anything non-human can feel pain in GD I believe, so I’ll not post anything further on that subject here. ---
**Author:** ![Rapunzel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/cc9497/32.png) [@Rapunzel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rapunzel)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2003, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooking-lobster-in-a-humane-way/174873/45 "2003-05-14T12:16:57Z")
The last time I faced this situation the decision was taken out of my hands. As a culinary experiment, I bought 2 live lobsters at my local farmer’s market with the intention of keeping them until I was ready to cook them fresh. I called them Terry & June, built a little home for them with sand and seaweed for them to climb up on, and got the water with the right ratio of salt. They were clickety-clacking around fine at first, but as the day wore on I noticed them slowing down more and more. It was fair to say I was rather worried about my new pets. The next morning I found Terry had departed this earth for seafood heaven and June was not far behind him. Thus all thoughts of traumatic murder were removed from my conscience. I had done everything I could. They did make a fabulous lunch though:D ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2003, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooking-lobster-in-a-humane-way/174873/46 "2003-05-14T14:43:14Z")
What-lobsters SCREAM??? I am so never making lobster! ---
**Author:** ![JKB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7feea3/32.png) [@JKB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKB)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2003, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooking-lobster-in-a-humane-way/174873/47 "2003-05-14T15:33:52Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Guinastasia \* > \*\*What-lobsters SCREAM??? > > I am so never making lobster! \*\* The notion of lobsters screaming/crying is a myth. Don’t think they can vocalize. Maybe someday we’ll be able to breed/engineer animals without brains. Come to think of it, I know personally a few people who could provide that very gene.😉 ---
**Author:** ![OxyMoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e9a140/32.png) [@OxyMoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OxyMoron)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2003, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooking-lobster-in-a-humane-way/174873/48 "2003-05-14T16:18:28Z")
Indeed. The sound is steam escaping through the shell. ---
**Author:** ![irishgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@irishgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/irishgirl)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2003, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooking-lobster-in-a-humane-way/174873/49 "2003-05-14T18:23:34Z")
I’ve only eaten lobster once. Mum had to hold the damn thing down in the pot with a broom handle. AFAIK you’re meant to cook lobsters alive and crabs dead (knife between the eyes). ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2003, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooking-lobster-in-a-humane-way/174873/50 "2003-05-14T18:32:55Z")
No, we cook crabs from the Chesapeake bay alive too. Steam 'em up with a mix of water, apple-cider vinegar, and old bay spice. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooking-lobster-in-a-humane-way/174873.md?page=2)