Do you have old friends coming into town to see you or new friends you want to impress? Are you a pretty good cook who would much rather cook at home than go out to a restaurant? If so, youll need a spectacular meal to serve.
One of the possibilities for spectacular meals includes lobster. And while other choices are prime rib, filet mignon, rack of lamb or grilled salmon, your easiest choice is lobster. Even if you don’t know how to cook lobster and have never watched anyone cook it, cooking lobster is still high on the priority list of great dishes to cook for amateur chefs.
There’s not much you can do wrong with lobster except:
- forgetting to boil the water in the pot before you throw the live lobster in. There’s something kind of freaky about the lobster crawling out of the pot and falling to the floor in your kitchen!
- cooking it too long, resulting in rubbery meat
- neglecting to have warm melted butter to dip the lobster meat into after it’s cooked
That’s about it. What you’ll quickly discover when learning how to cook lobster is that it’s actually pretty easy. First you prepare the lobster. Next you boil it until the shell is bright red. And finally, you arrange it on a plate so that it looks attractive.
The Details on How to Cook Lobster
As with all dishes you cook, it’s the details that count. Here are 7 tips that you should know. But always remember, the three simple steps will always remain simple.
- you’ll need a large pot, larger than the lobster. You don’t want to see half its body sticking out of the pot, do you?
- Use tap water in the pot. don’t try to get fancy with purified water, carbonated water, bottled spring water or Evian water. Use plain water. Then add salt to it. The theory on this is that the lobster lived in the sea and it was used to salty seawater. Chefs report that if you don’t add salt to the water, it’s possible that the regular water will draw the salt out of the meat of the lobster. And since this idea really does follow the basic principles of chemistry and science, it could be entirely true. Add 2-4 tablespoons salt to the water before boiling.
- If the lobster is live, drop it into the water head first. Some people say they ‘hypnotize’ the lobster by rubbing it gently on the head, lulling it to sleep before the big plunge.
- If the lobster is frozen, thaw it at room temperature before boiling it. Lobsters thaw quickly one 2-lb lobster can be totally thawed at room temperature in a few hours.
- If you want to get extra fancy, add some vegetables and herbs to the boiling water. Garlic, pepper, lemon, small potatoes, one-inch chunks of carrots, celery, fresh parsley, basil, rosemary will work well.
- If you suddenly feel sorry for the lobster before giving him the big plunge, put it in the freezer for 10 minutes first. This is thought to be a humane way of killing it. The lobster will be numbed before it enters the boiling water.
- Cooking time is 10 minutes for the first pound, then three extra minutes for each pound after that. A 3-lb lobster will be cooked in 16 minutes.
- Once cooked, remove it from the water, blot the excess water with paper towels, and serve hot with melted butter.
- Every lobster has internal organs. you’ll want to remove the black vein that runs down the tail and the green tomalley and the sand sac (in the head region behind the eyes).
- When the shell is bright red and the antennae comes off easily when gently pulled, your lobster is finished.
See how easy it is to learn how to cook lobster?
