How to choose Lobsters are categorically divided into clawed and spiny varieties. The popular Maine species is clawed and lives in cold waters off the east coast of the US and Canada. When picking lobster from a tank, you may be inclined to choose one with the least shell blemish, but a lobster should never be judged by the colour of its shell. When the animal is out of the water, it should squirm energetically and hold its claws upwards to indicate freshness. Also, a lobster’s tail must be straight and never curled when alive.
How to peel When a brick-red, hard-shelled lobster is placed in front of you, you might be intimidated to maneuver your way around it. But there’s no need to panic if you follow a few simple steps:
1. Start with the claws – twist, break off and crack with a nutcracker or a mallet and use a narrow, sharp instrument to scoop the flesh out. The claws are where the meat is sweetest, and a prized section with the Maine lobster.
2. Then, separate the tail by arching the lobster’s body until it cracks. From the broken tail piece, bend the back and snap off the flipper.
3. Insert a fork into where the flippers break, and slowly slide the meat out.
4. Now proceed to what’s left: the lobster’s back, where arguably the best part of the lobster is hidden – tomalley. Tomalley is what serves as the lobster’s pancreas and liver, and it turns gooey and green when cooked. Unhinge the back from the body to access it.
5. Finally, the spindly legs can be sucked on for traces of meat and residual lobster juices.
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How to prepare If you’re spending a week’s pay on a lobster, you’re going to want to actually taste it. Steaming and boiling are methods that don’t mask the seafood’s natural sweetness. At American seafood chain
Red Lobster, the former method is championed where lobster is steamed whole for just under ten minutes until the meat is tender and moist. Meanwhile, the familiar movie scene of home cooks dunking whole lobsters into large steel vats of boiling water is clichéd for a reason – boiling is the easiest (albeit a sometimes dramatic) way to ensure a lobster’s quick death.
It takes a skilled chef to master the tricky cooking times according to a lobster’s weight and size; overcooked lobster is a crying shame, considering that a couple hundred bucks are at stake. There are also the different cooking times of lobster parts to consider; claws take longer to cook compared to the tail, as the meat is guarded by a hard, thick shell. But a slather of butter and a squeeze of lemon later, it’s all worth it.
How to prepare