How to kill a lobster?

Factual Questions
1

So, what’s the most humane way to kill a lobster / crayfish / crab etc?

I watched an Iron Chef episode where they tied up some crabs and put them in a dry wok to cook in their own juices - I thought that there must be a ‘nicer’ way to kill the poor creatures.

Or am I just anthropomorphising?

2

First, realize that you’re dealing with a critter that’s about as intelligent as a cockroach.

That being said, I remember an episode of Good Eats where Alton Brown shows two ways to put down a bug.

  1. Stab it in the head with a butcher’s knife (look for the joint in the exoskeleton)
  2. Pop it in the freezer for a few minutes.
  3. Put it in
3

As Tentacle Monster mentioned, taking a nap in the freezer seems to be the way to go.

Google leads to a page that proports:

And to a Food Network recipe, Boiled Lobsters, were a note a the bottom reads:

You may also want to read a previous thread, titled: do shrimps and lobsters feel pain when boiled?

4

It seems if you have any qualms about cooking a live lobster, you might want to think about just buying frozen. Not quite as good, granted, but it gives you an out of any guilt you have. And it still tasted pretty damn good.

5

You may also want to read a previous thread, titled: do shrimps and lobsters feel pain when boiled?
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Typical, I searched for ‘lobster’ on the straightdope front page but only got colitas - which I’m sure the antibiotics will soon clear up.

6

…Reminder to self - click on ‘Preview Post’ before sending…

7

Just FYI, the search field on the front page doesn’t search the message board, only the columns. That’s why it didn’t show up.

8

If lobsters could scream, would we be so cavalier about thowing them in a pot of boiling water? We might, if they screamed all the time, for no good reason.

A paraphrase of a ‘Deep Thought’ by Jack Handey (substitute ‘tree’ and ‘cutting them down’)