How big a pot for live lobsters?

[smorris291]

I'm planning on cooking live maine lobsters this weekend (for the exciting first wedding anniversary dinner)...and I'm not sure if I have a big enough stock pot. The one I have is an 8-quart pot, and I'm fairly sure I can't do two lobsters at once, let alone one.

Anyone have an idea what size I need? Thanks...

[Jason Perlow]

16 quart or bigger.

[blueapron]

Depending on how you plan to serve them- you can twist the tail and claw/knuckles free from the body and then cook them seperatly

Claws for 2.5 min- tails for 3 min

[Rachel Perlow]

I prefer them steamed to boiled -- just bring an inch or two of liquid to the boil. Depending on the size of your lobsters, the 8-qt pot might be big enough. You have to be able to get them in and have the lid securely in place.

[KHT20]

We regularly steam 2 2lb. lobsters in our 8 qt. stock pot - just make sure you keep an eye on them for the first 7-8 minutes because they have a tendency to kick off the lid. Couple inches of water at the bottom for steaming does the trick.

[blueapron]

I was always taught to kill the lobster with a swift split of the head before cooking it.

Lobsters are not completely brainless and know when they are out of water and in danger so they tend to get very stressed.

If you just chuck it into the pot without putting it out of its misery the lobster meat will be tough or chewier because the lobster is fighting to stay alive.

[Yuki]

My parents always kill the lobster and one of the step is sticking a chop stick into the lobster from its back(there is an opening).... what is the purpose of doing that?

[blueapron]

Probably to prevent the tail from curling under as it usally does. Do they leave it in as they cook it or is it just when they kill it?

[Yuki]

Probably to prevent the tail from curling under as it usally does. Do they leave it in as they cook it or is it just when they kill it?

They only insert the chopstick when killing/cleaning it and then pull it out.

[blueapron]

Interesting -I will ask my mentor he seems to know everthing about seafood and get baack to you with his answer.

[Yuki]

I just phoned my mom to ask, she told me that by sticking the chop stick will kill the lobster and also let the poo out of the lobster. Thanks

[blueapron]

Funny! Yuki Funny!

[KHT20]

Alton Brown recommends sticking them in the freezer for 15 minutes to slow their metabolisms down so much that they become paralyzed. By the time they warm up enough to start feeling/moving, they're already dead. Boy, this is an uplifting conversation.

[bleachboy]

Here's Thomas Keller's recipe for butter poached lobster. If you're gonna shell/plate it, this is the way to go.

I can't comment on how to kill it. I always buy the cheapo frozen lobster tails.

[auntdot]

Prefer lobster baked and stuffed, or steamed.

Do them in before I do the cooking.

I just stab them on the top of the rostrum, between the eyes with a chef's knife; there is a little cross in the shell there.

They stop moving immediately.

Yes, the lobster has little substance that we would call a brain.

But clearly they respond to stimuli, and flop about a lot if they are being steamed.

Find it more pleasant if I do them in first.

If I boil them, which I rarely do, will just dunk them in the bubbling drink. Use a pot large enough so the lobsters will not reduce the temperature significantly, thereby not killing them quickly.

And we always prefer two pounders.

Anything less just isn't worth the trouble.

[smorris291]

I appreciate the feedback--on the killing of the lobster as well, as I hadn't thought to ask about that...thanks to all.

[budrichard]

With 50+ years experience of cooking Maine lobsters, I will respond.

For 5 lobsters, you could fit them in a 20 gal pot if you curled them in just right.

DO NOT take the claws and knuckles off and cook them seperately, the liquid contained within will be lost.

For those of you that are concerned that your lobster has a brain and then ascribe feelings, or a concerned about tough meat? If you go to a lobster boil in Maine, do not ask them how they kill the lobsters before cooking. They will laugh at you.

I certainly don't believe in causing any animal uneeded pain, but the nervous system of a lobster is rudimentary and it is not a felony to kill a lobster by boiling without euthanizing it first! -Dick

[Dryden]

If you pull them straight out of a cold fridge, having them kick too much shouldn't be a problem, just make sure you have a good head of steam going before you add them.

As for the "poo" in the lobster, I have a feeling that someone is referring to the tamale, which is often incorrectly though of as excrement. It's the mushy green stuff (actually, green when cooked, black when undercooked) in the middle of a lobster's body, it's actually the liver, and it's the second best tasting part of the whole beast. Other than the roe of the female, that is.

Is my family the only one that only eats female lobsters? I've taught more fish counter guys how to sex one properly than I can keep track of...

[tanabutler]

Don't forget the earplugs. Lobsters scream. Or so someone (natti) says in Lobster 101.

Three times a year for the last 9 years i must cook 120-200 3 pound lobsters. I ALWAYS dispatch the lobsters that I set aside for broiling (50-100). This is done by placing a small boning knife behind the first break in the carapace behind the head. Insert swiftly and deftly draw across and through. This severs the spinal cord effectively guiouttinning the lobster. The lobster at this point arches and stretches out. There is some residual motion but the beast usually dies rather quickly.

My experience with the cold to boiling water method has to do with the seemingly panicked way the lobsters attempt to escape the pot. The most disturbing aspect that I've found to this method is the screams. The bloodcurdling noise that the lobsters emit make my skin crawl. I've only had to experience it once or twice to know that I never wanted to hear those sounds again. It was NOT steam escaping the shells. The beasts are desperately trying to jump out of the pot, some of them successfully. That coupled with the noise lead me to the 'plunge them into boiling liquid' method. Here you want to be careful not to put to many cold lobsters into the boiling water. This cools the liquid to the point that the lobsters aren't shocked and killed instantly. You also want to use ample liquid for the same reasons.

[Hest88]

As for the "poo" in the lobster, I have a feeling that someone is referring to the tamale, which is often incorrectly though of as excrement.

Nah. I had friends from Hong Kong who did that chopstick thing too. (No Chinese person worth his or her ethnicity shys away from the tomale.) Their explanation was that it cleared out the intestines. I guess like the reason people de-vein shrimp.

[Yuki]

As for the "poo" in the lobster, I have a feeling that someone is referring to the tamale, which is often incorrectly though of as excrement.

Nah. I had friends from Hong Kong who did that chopstick thing too. (No Chinese person worth his or her ethnicity shys away from the tomale.) Their explanation was that it cleared out the intestines. I guess like the reason people de-vein shrimp.

I see so many frozen lobster tails at the supermarket, wonder what happened to their heads? Would like to just buy the head to make a wonderful stock. My family kill the lobster to make lobster sashimi or put the slices into hot pot. Next time I should volunteer to kill the lobster....

[PoorLawyer]

sometimes, if i'm not mistaken, there is poo or something similarly unknown and brownish/green in color in the tail when you split them open after steaming. Can anyone confirm this? And I'm not talking about the tamale either in the body. I do think the skewer in the tail is just so it doesn't curl, correct?

[jmcgrath]

sometimes, if i'm not mistaken, there is poo or something similarly unknown and brownish/green in color in the tail when you split them open after steaming.  Can anyone confirm this?  And I'm not talking about the tamale either in the body.  I do think the skewer in the tail is just so it doesn't curl, correct?

There is an intestine running along the top of the tail. There is also a strip of flesh covering the intestine that can easily be peeled away to allow cleanout.

Jim

[blueapron]

It is just a matter of personal choice to me. To kill or not to kill before cooking is up to the cook, but that is what your taught to do at the CIA and all but one of the restaurant kitchens that I have worked in.We still save the coral and tamale and use in sauces or stuffings. We use the bodys to make lobster stock so there is no waste. It is different every where and I dont work at places that just slap a lobster on a plate and give you a bib. But there is nothing wrong with that.

Quote ;

"DO NOT take the claws and knuckles off and cook them seperately, the liquid contained within will be lost.

For those of you that are concerned that your lobster has a brain and then ascribe feelings, or a concerned about tough meat? If you go to a lobster boil in Maine, do not ask them how they kill the lobsters before cooking. They will laugh at you. "

As I said before I only take the legs and tail off depending on its use I.E. a salad, spring rolls or other composed dish where the juices simply are not needed.If I was serving a dish where the lobster was presented in the shell it is different and I wouild cook it whole after killing it. Let them laugh -cause I 'll be laugh too!