Bad lobster tail

[cyalexa]

Mods, please move this if there is a better forum or existing similar thread.

 

I bought 3 cold-water lobster tails yesterday. One was mushy and sort of degenerating. I buy this type of product frequently and have never seen anything similar. We didn't eat any of them.

 

Any ideas on the cause of this? 

[ElsieD]

Just a pure guess here, but it sounds as though they were thawed and refrozen more than once.

[AlaMoi]

cause?

 

mishandled lobster - just that simple.  the details of possibilities of what went wrong depend on what you bought - you said 'tails' so I'm presuming frozen at best and in-store thawed at worst.

 

lobster is sufficiently expensive that I only buy live.  technically one should get quality frozen tails - but reality wise, I've found that to be iffy. 

 

and if the tails are "thawed in the counter" - the probability is less than 50% of getting a decent chunk of lobster.

 

in my experience, more than 50 miles from the coast....

 

lobster meat that is soft & mushy is either so far past its prime it's not funny - or it's been frozen/thawed/frozen/thawed.

 

any stinky ammonia smell indicates lobster from last century.

 

if you're buying them live from a tank, several more things you need to know.

[cyalexa]

They were purchased frozen. I usually ask the clerk to get ones directly out of the freezer for me but did not do that this time as I was going to cook them that evening. I thawed them very slowly in the microwave (10% power). As soon as they were flexible I ran a bamboo skewer through them to keep them from curling then increased the power to 60% to cook them nearly through. Although I usually thaw them in the refrigerator, this is my usual cooking method and in my hands it is easier and just as good as boiling or steaming. When they were nearly cooked I split them in half lengthwise for a quick trip to the grill, mostly just for marks.

Edited January 1, 2015 by cyalexa (log)

[HungryChris]

It is also possible that the lobster had passed on to lobster heaven a  while before being processed. That is why most markets go through their tanks looking for "sleepers" or slow moving ones that will not last long. These are cooked up quickly to prevent what you describe.

 

HC