Boiled Lobster

Beer and lobster.  Mmmmm

On vacation, once again, at the lobster capital of the world, so what else could we do?  Boil some lobster, of course.

Fresh out of water and very aggressive

Yes, we've all heard the arguments about cruelty to animals, but I don't know of any better way to kill them, so as far as I'm concerned, this is the most humane way.

Our usual supplier got us 10 lobster for six people.  They were all about 700g, so were ideal.  They all had lots of meat and were not too tough.  These came from very cold water, so their shells were thick and very hard.

We had a mix of 5 females and 5 males, which was a good split, considering our audience.  We all have our preferences as to which is better and seem to debate it every time we gather for our feast.

Our menu pretty much always consists of::

Admiral Catnap's propane burner and pot

• Lobster
• Butter for dipping
• Potato salad
• Crusty rolls.  These are great for putting the green liver on, for easier eating
• Wine and beer.  Responsibly used, of course.

Here's how we cooked the lobster.

Take a humongous pot, and fill it with sea water.  Add a generous handful of salt.  Yes, this seems like overkill, but the extra salt brings out the flavour.

Put the pot on a large burner, cover it and bring to a boil.

In the meantime, prepare the lobster.  In our case, this meant removing the rubber bands from around the claws.  If you don't, then the rubber will "flavour" the cooking water and that's never a good thing.

When the water boils, add the lobster (and listen for the "screams").  Bring the water back to a boil.

Just after adding the lobster

Reduce the heat and boil for 20 minutes.  Enjoy the colour change as the shells go from dark green to bright red.

After the 20 minutes are up, remove them from the water and bring them to the table.

Nearly cooked

Enjoy!  Make sure everyone has access to picks, crushers and maybe knives to get at all the delicious meat.

Removing the lobster

In our family, everyone has their favourite part of the lobster.

• Some of the easiest meat to get at is the legs.  Break the legs at the joints and suck out the meat from the shells.
• Just where the legs attach to the bodies is some of the tenderest and sweetest meat on the lobster.  The main body has some morsels, but only eat what you can shake out of it.  Don't eat the head.
• The claws and arms have great morsels, but require the most work.
• The tail has the largest piece of meat and is not too difficult to remove, but is often the toughest meat.  Just be sure to remove the "vein" from inside as this is not pleasant to eat.
• Females sometimes contain some eggs, or roe.  This is a bright red mass that's solid once cooked.  These are an extra special treat for those of us who like it.

Stacking on the platter

Quite often we barter pieces of lobster with each other.  Commodore Catnap and I often trade a tail for two claws. So everyone gets more of their favourite.  Sometimes it's difficult to say how many lobsters we eat.  But generally speaking, we have one or two per person.