Lobster is a prized meal anywhere. That soft, buttery lobster meat when properly-cooked is heaven on earth.
Most of us aren’t going on vacation this year, sadly and you’ll probably miss having fresh caught lobster in a tropical paradise. We don’t want you to miss out entirely, so we asked the folks at Lobster Anywhere to share their cooking tips to give yourself a special treat.
In this post, we’ll be telling you how to cook the perfect lobster at home.
Methods of Cooking Lobster
There are different ways to cook lobster to get perfect results. Each of these methods will produce perfectly cooked lobster if you follow the instructions correctly.
They are;
- Boiling
- Steaming
- Grilling / BBQ
- Poaching
Some people like to cook their lobster while it’s alive, while some like to kill it before cooking. This entirely depends on you, although if you’re killing the lobster first, the cooking should come immediately after since lobsters tend to spoil very quickly. One way to dispatch them quickly and effectively is to use a very sharp knife and cut through behind and between the eyes swiftly. You can then clean out the tomalley or roe (black or green stuff) inside the lobster before cooking.
If you aren’t into handling live lobster, you can buy them frozen, buy tails, or even lobster meat. If frozen, it’s best to slow thaw overnight in the refrigerator.
Boiling
For the boiling method;
- Use a pot that is big enough to completely submerge the lobsters and fill the top to about three-fourths.
- Depending on how seasoned you like the lobsters, use 2 to 4 tablespoons of sea salt per gallon of water.
- Allow the water to boil, and then immerse your live lobsters or very recently killed lobster into the water with the head going in first.
- Stir at intervals to ensure that it gets cooked thoroughly and evenly.
- When the lobsters become bright red to indicate being cooked, take them out and put them into cool water to allow them to cool down.
- After cooling, you can now remove the lobster meat from the shell or cut it in half with the shell.
- Serve with melted butter and any herbs of your choice. Yummy!
Steaming
This method produces a more tasty outcome since the lobster loses flavor during cooking.
- Put about two inches of water in your pot.
- Add a generous helping of salt and seaweed if you’d like.
- Place your live or very recently killed lobster in a steaming rack or steaming basket.
- Allow the water to boil with the lid closed, and then lower the lobsters into it.
- Allow 1 pound of the lobster to steam for 9 minutes, and for one extra pound, add 4 minutes each.
- When the lobsters become bright red to indicate thorough cooking, remove them and place them into cold water.
Serve with butter alongside any herbs and spices of your choice.
Grilling or BBQ
This is a wonderful way to add that nice smoky flavor to your delicious lobster.
This method can be an alternative for you if you don’t have a pot that can take multiple lobsters at the same time.
- Freeze the lobster for about 15-20 minutes.
- Use a sharp knife to slice through just behind and between the lobster eyes and then cut the lobster into two halves.
- Don’t forget to remove the tomalley or roe (the green or black substance) and then rinse the body well.
- You can remove the upper section of the lobster’s body called the carapace and grill only the tails if you want.
- Crack the large shells of the claw and put them away
- Using a mix of butter, salt and lemon, brush over the lobster tail best
- Preheat your grill to medium or about
350°F, lightly oil it and then place the lobster tail on it alongside the claws shell down about 4-5 inches over the flames to avoid overcooking.
- Baste the meat as you cook for about 7 minutes or until the thickest part of the lobster meat turns opaque. Leave the claws for an extra 5 minutes or until the shell turns bright red.
Poaching
In this method, there are two ways you can start it;
- You can blanch the lobster first so that it becomes easier to remove the meat from the shell, and then you poach the meat in butter the rest of the way.
- As an alternative, you can cut the lobster tails into two and then poach them directly in butter until the meat turns opaque and the shells turn bright red.
- Follow the steps used in boiling or steaming lobster but reduce the time to a maximum of 3 minutes.
- Twist off the tail, claws, and leg portions, and then cut the tail’s soft underside so that it becomes easily removable from the shell.
- Crack the claws and knuckles, and remove the meat from these portions too.
- Add a quarter cup of water with ½ tablespoon of salt, three garlic cloves, and some thyme if you like. Let the water simmer gently under medium heat.
- Add increments of 2 tablespoons of cold butter to the water at a time and stir constantly to dissolve the butter.
- Add the new increments before the previous ones completely dissolve and whisk them in. Use up to 18 – 24 tablespoons of butter.
- Make sure you have a steaming melted butter mixture, not a boiling one.
- Add the lobster tails into your saucepan and gently stir while basting the lobster tails with butter.
- Flip over halfway through until the tails are curled up and opaque in color. This should take 6 minutes.
- The meat on the claws and knuckles should only take about 3 – 4 minutes.
And then your lobster is ready and totally yummy!
We hope that you’re excited and looking forward to cooking your special lobster meals at home with these tips.
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