lobster advice

[spqr]

Really!?  Come on, it was a joke.

Has everyone gone and lost their senses!!!? Or can we not infer tone without emoticons?

There, is that better?

Hopleaf..note that I did mention that I was humorless today, and so I answered the question straight rather than with humor. Okay? Get it? Jeez! (no emoticon necessary)

[Hopleaf]

whatever, whereever, have a nice day.

[spqr]

Hopleaf: Thank you, you too.

[tommy]

Hopleaf..note that I did mention that I was humorless today, and so I answered the question straight rather than with humor. Okay? Get it? Jeez! (no emoticon necessary)

i would highly recommend staying clear of my posts when you find yourself in a day like this.

[Liza]

Getting to the lobster, I'll add that we made Thomas Keller's Butter-poached lobster and found the resulting dish to be quite delicious and moist.

Chef Keller recommends pouring boiling water over the lobsters, though we just bunged them in a pot of boiling water for three minutes. This firms up the flesh while not cooking it through. After two-three minutes in the water, take out the lobsters and extract the flesh. Carefully....

Then poach the flesh in lots of lovely butter.

[g.johnson]

This article from a researcher at the University of Maine says that lobsters have no brain and an insufficiently complex nervous system to experience pain. The article also describes experiments performed at UoM measuring the length of time the lobster twitches around in hot water. “Hypnotizing” and slow heating increase the time; both chilling and steaming reduce it. They recommend chilling and plunging in hot water.

New Zealand’s Ministry of Agriculture and Fishheries recommends chilling and splitting.

[Hopleaf]

This article from a researcher at the University of Maine says that lobsters have no brain and an insufficiently complex nervous system to experience pain. The article also describes experiments performed at UoM measuring the length of time the lobster twitches around in hot water. “Hypnotizing” and slow heating increase the time; both chilling and steaming reduce it. They recommend chilling and plunging in hot water.

New Zealand’s Ministry of Agriculture and Fishheries recommends chilling and splitting.

I have this chilling sensation that a race of super aliens is reading a similar report on us humans from earth.

[tommy]

I have this chilling sensation that a race of super aliens is reading a similar report on us humans from earth.

...and they're compiling a list of candidates for "Hypnotizing” and slow heating.

[hollywood]

Is there an abattoir for lobsters?

[Stone]

No.

[Wilfrid]

G Johnson's advice is consistent with the suggestion that you bung the lobster in the freezer for a few minutes - not to freeze it, but to render it even more insensible than god created it* - before plunging it into the pot.

*Discussion of creationism v evolutionism not solicited by this figure of speech, thanks.

[Nick]

Lobsters should keep in the refrigerator for 24 hours without any problems. Some of this has been said before, but I'll repeat.

When you get the lobsters take only the ones that are "kicking" when taken out of the water. Tails flipping and claws waving around. Also, the harder their shells the better. If you can get seaweed (rockweed) that will help. I think they feel more at home on rockweed even in a refrigerator.

When you get home put them in the bottom drawer of the fridge on the rockweed, if you've gotten any. If you have enough weed also cover them with it. If not enough you can cover them with newspaper. I've never used damp towels but maybe that would work. Whatever you do, do not ice them. Fresh water kills lobsters. It's okay to use gelpacks. When I ship them I put gelpacks at the bottom, then weed, then lobsters, more weed, then more gelpacks.

Make sure your fridge is at 33-35F. That's where it should be anyhow.

I steam lobsters if I can get them all in the pot. About an inch, inch and a half, of water in the pot. Cooking batches probably is better done in boiling water. In twenty five years on the coast of Maine I've never heard of anyone starting them in cold water.

[Stone]

When I ship them I put gelpacks at the bottom, then weed, then lobsters, more weed, then more gelpacks.

this seems like a good packing method. Can you ship me some? But you can leave out that pesky middle layer of lobster.

[tommy]

HAHA. took me three reads.

[Nick]

this seems like a good packing method.  Can you ship me some?  But you can leave out that pesky middle layer of lobster.

Sure. Just buds, or a little shake too? Keeps your cost down.

[pjs]

Years ago when I sold live lobsters while working at big supermarket chain in NYC one of the most popular ways customers wanted them prepped was split for broiling. We had a huge knife--the blade must of been at least 14"--which we laid down the middle of an upturned bug--head to tail. One or two whacks with a wooden mallet to the back of the the knife was all that was needed. Poor things didn't know what hit them.

PJ

[Jinmyo]

Bugs. Big bugs.

[pjs]

Big Florida bugs. $21.99 lb. for the tails. Now all gone. Sob.

PJ

[Nick]

Big Florida bugs. $21.99 lb. for the tails. Now all gone. Sob.

PJ

When my father was living near Key West a friend of his, also retired, fished for stone crabs and lobsters. I liked the stone crabs better. Do you like Fla. lobster tails better than Maine lobster tails?

Edit: Of course my liking the stone crabs better may have something to do with the way my father cooked each.

[Suzanne F]

To quote the sainted Mario of Babbo:

Kill lobsters by piercing the shells with a sharp point at the centre of the back end of the eyes.* ... *Note: first place the wrapped lobsters in the freezer for 1 hour -- this will anaesthetise them.

(This comes from the current Australian Vogue Entertaining + Travel; hence the British spellings.)

[Zeb A]

My great-grandparents emigrated from Sweden to Chicago where they worked for a family that spent 1/2 the year in York Harbor, Maine. They eventually inherited a house in Maine from the family that they worked for, and my family has spent summers (or more) there every year since.

My greatgrandmother was a cook. This is the way we have cooked lobsters for I guess about 100 years.

Get the live lobsters. They should last in the fridge for 24 hours. We usually just keep them in a thick brown bag. If they are dead, don't bother cooking them. I've done it and it is not good.

Put the lobster on its back.

Stick a sharp and sturdy knife into the "head" and quicky split the lobster in half. To separate the two halves, you will probably need to snap it with your hands.

Snap the claw off of each half, and put it in a pot for boiling later.

In the middle of one of the halves, you will see a stomach sack. Remove it and the intestine looking thing that runs down the tail.

I personally don't enjoy the tamale (green funky looking stuff), but many do. So, keep it in the body. Put your thumb over the tamale and rinse the halves.

Put each half on a backing sheet. If you desire, put some bread crumbs and butter on the tamale (not necessary). Bake at about 350 until tail meat just starts to separate from the shell. Maybe 10 minutes.

I have had lobsters just about every which way, and this is by far my favorite way to eat them.

[pjs]

Nickn, If I had to pick one over the other I'd prefer the Maine version. The problem I have with them is that the only ones that are readily available down here all weigh 1¼ to 1½ lbs--I think they're called chicken lobsters. It's gotten to the point when the chains advertise them for sale as $4.95 ea. instead of $4.95 lb. What blew me away when I saw the local Florida tails for sale was that some of them were big--about 1-1½ lb. each.

PJ

[Dave the Cook]

Maine lobster > stone crab > spiny lobster

Actually, many things are > spiny lobster. If you like the taste of spiny lobster, crawfish is the refined version and much >.

pjs, I think chickens are less than a pound. 1-1/4 are quarters, then halves; 2# are deuces and over 2-1/2 are jumbos.

It's so much easier to be smug if you know the lingo. Please correct me if I'm wrong, Nick. I learned all this in a hurry doing a lobster bake for my niece's rehearsal dinner last summer.

[pjs]

I've never seen them under a pound. Are they legal that small?

PJ

[Dave the Cook]

Actually, no. They have to be a pound. So a chicken is one to 1-1/8 #. There are also legal restrictions on size of the carapace, among other things. Sorry for the misremembering.

I finally found the resource I was using last year. Snap here for a quick read.