lobster advice

[Nick]

PJ - Those were big FL lobster tails. The ones I had at my father's couldn't have weighed more than 1/3-1/2 pound. I can't understand selling lobsters without regard to weight. And that's a low price. What with air frieght, everyone's markup, etc., that's cheap. Maybe they're Canadian lobsters. Around here the boat price doesn't get much lower than $2/# and that's for softshells in the middle of the summer.

There isn't a minimum weight. Lobsters are measured by carapace (sp) length. It varies from state to state. But until you've had a "short" lobster you don't know how good a lobster can taste.

Dave & PJ - I've heard the term "chicken lobster" but I have no idea what they are. Something from further ondown the marketing chain I guess.

[pjs]

Nickn, I just pulled that price out of my memory. Current prices for that size are closer to $10.00.

Speaking of "short" lobsters when I went out with the divers we had to smuggle one ever so slightly undersized one onshore to ensure everyone got one. My status as the only single guy on the boat meant it was mine. It was sooooo good.

PJ

[Nick]

Speaking of "short" lobsters when I went out with the divers we had to smuggle one ever so slightly undersized one onshore to ensure everyone got one. My status as the only single guy on the boat meant it was mine. It was sooooo good.

PJ

Yep. They sure are. One winter a friend of mine was shrimping and brought me a 5 gallon pail of shrimp and said, " Don't dump this out in front of anybody." There were a half dozen shorts in the bottom.

[Dave the Cook]

I hate both you guys.

[Nick]

Now, now Dave. I wonder how Kpurvis that started this thread is making out. He was supposed to get the lobsters tonight. Nothing like a little thread drift.

[Dave the Cook]

Who Kpurvis?

Oh...yeah...

[Nick]

Hey Kpurvis. What happened?

[kpurvis]

Sorry, guys, I'm back. I came in Monday to find myself deeper on deadline that I expected, so didn't have time to report back until now.

OK -- here's my report on the lobsters. They kept just fine in a box with gel packs and a wet paper sack over them.

I followed the method first described: I placed one on a cutting board facing me. I placed the tip of a knife at the back of the head, then plunged straight down and pulled it forward, bisecting the head.

It may have killed it instantly. BUT IT DOESN"T STOP THEM FROM MOVING.

It was "Night of the Living Lobster." Their legs keep waving. Their tails kept curling. Even when I chopped off their tails and flipped them over, their little swimmerettes kept swimming. Quite frantically, in fact. Even when I clipped them off, the little stubs ... OK, I'll stop. You get the picture.

I wish someone had warned me. Since the last couple of posters assumed I'm male (I'm not), I guess I can assume it wasn't a trick played 'cuz I'm just a girl.

The sauce with the Martin Yan recipe was lovely, but I'd question its claim that two 8-ounce tails would feed four. Not the four of us. We used four tails and the claws and still had plenty of room for dessert, and that was in a dinner that started with sui mai, followed by salad, and included rice.

Thanks again for all the advice. But I'll stick with steaming. At least I can put the lid on them.

[Malawry]

I cooked two lobsters for the first time last night, for use in a bouillabaisse I was preparing for friends. The first thing I did when I got the animals home was put one on a kitchen towel on the floor and see what my cats did about it. (Yes, the bands were still on the claws.) The cats sniffed around a little and then (surprisingly) acted a bit bored.

Then I put on a huge pot of water to boil. I pulled the lobsters out onto the counter and talked to them. I really was sorry I was about to kill them, they were good listeners and seemed somewhat sympathetic to my vague ex-vegetarian guilt. My partner Erin came in briefly and said the one I'd put out for the cats to investigate was making noises, but I think it was just the rattling of the plastic bag by her tail.

Once the water came to a boil, it was all over. I apologized as I plunged the wriggling lobsters into the water. Two minutes later I removed them, drained them, and extracted all the flesh. I added it to the bouillabaisse towards the end of the cook time and the flesh did not toughen at all. Quite delicious.