need help on how to a lobster

sanbrafyffe

can any one help me on this one,,from start to finish

cheers b

Curry Addict

assuming its alive. put in freezer for 2 hours. then boil in a pot or water or stock for 6mins. remove meat from shell and fry in butter for 3 mins.

Merkin

Totally agree with above, so cruel putting them live into boiling water, much more humane letting them slowly freeze to death. I'd put it to boil for margianally longer than you Curry Addict and for 10-12 mins (dependent on weight) then fry in butter with a dash of white wine............delish

sanbrafyffe

thanks lads...i dont think il be eating them tonight so how will i store them

SBWife

Store in the fridge, they're pretty used to the cold and it's more humid in there use wet newspaper or seaweed to keep them wet. i pop them in the freezer for about 30 mins before cooking so that they're very sleepy. We boil them and serve with melted butter New England style. First in a large stock pot boil some water with carrot, celery and onion and a bouquet granie simmer for about 40 mins, then add a half bottle of drinkable white bring to a rapid boil for 5 mins then add lobster out of the freezer it should still be alive but the cold will have stunned it. About 12-15 mins for a 1kg plus lobster.

Curry Addict

im pretty sure it takes about 2hrs in the freezer for the lobster to reach the stage where it will be humane to boil it.

the last thing you want to do is overcook it so maybe weigh it first. I usually get 500g lobsters so 6 mins is good for this weight or as SBWife says 10-12 mins for a 1kg lobster. finish it by frying in butter for a couple of mins. lobster and butter is simple but amazing :pac:
note the smaller the lobster the sweeter and more tender so if your choosing them better to get 2 small as apposed to 1 big one.

lobster my fav food

SBWife

The reaction of the lobster to the boiling water is reduced with as little as 10 mins of freezer time. I don't think that it's really a question of being humane given the simplicity of the lobsters' nervous system but making the cook feel better by reducing the movement in the pot!

I prefer to go a touch longer on the boiling time and not fry the lobster after cooking, just let people dress it themselves and dip the flesh in melted butter.

ft9

What's lobster like? Texture and taste?

Curry Addict

it can be melt in the mouth to slightly chewy. flavor is a subjective thing, it has that crustation flavor similar to crab and very fresh prawn but its sweeter and more satisfying. for me lobster, fresh langoustines and king crab are the most wonderfully satisfying flavors of all foods.
something you really should try!

ft9

Cheers. I'm not a major fish person really. Love prawns, and mussells, and battered cod, lol! Must give lobster a try sometime.

CJhaughey

I don't really rate Lobster, Crayfish are much nicer as are brown crab and spider crabs which are a little bit more work but very sweet.

él statutorio

A sharp knife to the back its head is the most humane way of dispatching a live lobster. Plenty of videos on youtube on how to do it.

Freezing is just as cruel as boiling imho.

loveisdivine

The way they always do it on masterchef is a quick dip in the blast freezer, then a knife to the back of the head. I would imagine quickly severing the nervous system stuff with a knife to the back of the head would be a quicker more humane death than boiling.

The Sweeper

Apparently a lobster doesn't have a single brain, it has a connection of synapses that means a knife to the back of the head doesn't dispatch it the way you think. In 2009 some guy invented an electrocution bath, basically, for killing them in one second. (Not that you'll be buying that at home, given it's a couple of thousand quid and you'd want to be really fond of lobster.)

Darkginger

A knife to the back of the head works for me, even if it doesn't dispatch it the way I think I've chilled lobster, I've boiled lobster without chilling, I have no doubt committed numerous lobstery sins - but I think the knife method is the quickest. Also, as I read somewhere once, grilled lobster should be grilled, not boiled and then grilled - so the knife method (in the absence of an electrocution device) is more or less the only way to achieve that.

After your chosen method of cooking, I think there's nothing better than warm to room temperature lobster (not chilled, it loses flavour) served with a warm lime and tarragon hollandaise (or home made mayonnaise if you prefer). I'm not a fan of dishes where lobster is an ingredient (thermidor, for example) as opposed to the star of the show - plain, unadorned, with a piquant sauce on the side. Yum.