Lobster, Cooked Correctly (Nice And Simple)

An eight-pound lobster, boiled for 18 minutes, and then iced for about an hour. I had to use my old framing hammer to crack the claws. The legs were enough for a thirteen-year-old’s dinner! No butter, no mayonnaise, just a little fresh cocktail sauce for one of our guests. The meat was incredibly sweet and tender, no doubt because of the cooking time. Check some cookbooks and you will discover that most people overcook lobster by a factor of two or three.

We served this beast with some oven roasted potatoes and Caesar Salad.

lobster-3.jpg

P.S.  I posted about cooking lobsters awhile ago, but I wanted to show off this nice big one, and prove that I can actually insert a photo without massive help-desk intervention.

11 Replies to “Lobster, Cooked Correctly (Nice And Simple)”

  1. I,
    You have a good Blog, I have clicked on your post at Ace’s several times I finally bookmarked you.

    I worked at a restaurant here in Fl, that did a LOT of seafood. (Yea I am channeling Spurwing Plover) The first thing they taught me was Shrimp and Lobster, 60 seconds max.in boiling water.

    I used to live in Elisabeth, NJ. Your post bring back fond memories.

    V

  2. V,

    Thanks for the kind words. But I think I may be overcooking my shrimp! 60 seconds. I’ll give it a shot. I usually cook them, in the shell, for about two minutes. And those lobsters? Are you talking about the usual 1.25 pounders? Or rock lobsters?

    I have a friend who used to be a real chef, and at his restaurant they would poach the lobsters in cream before preparing them for the usual dishes. I’m not sure my arteries could handle that, but it sure sounds like fun.

  3. that 8# beauty probably produced enough spawn to put your kids through school. better to not buy the big guys and girls, let them go on mating, they’ve earned it! and for the record, we blanched( look it up) them in court-boullion, cooled them, open ’em up, portioned them and then poached them in cream to finish. the best…

  4. But the big ones taste better!

    And I know what blanching is. I might not be a chef, but I can cook at least a little bit. How long did you cook your lobsters? And is it worth the trouble for a home cook to try your restaurant technique?

  5. I,
    Sorry I took so long,
    I guess the biggest caveat is we used 30 qt pots of water. We could cook 5# of shrimp in a min.
    A regular 1# lobster was about the same, we went with color change on the big lobster.
    Btw, I have found that mustard makes a big difference in the shrimp boil. Try it some time. I use whole brown seeds, but powdered works too.

Leave a Reply to tommy Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *