How to Cook a Whole Lobster
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5.0
15 reviews
Excellent
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Cook Time
mins
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Cook Time
24 mins
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Total Time
39 mins
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Course
Others
How to Cook a Whole Lobster
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Cooking a whole lobster is easier than you would think! This guide will teach you how to humanely kill a lobster, boil or steam them, shell them, and get every piece of meat from claw to tail.
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Ingredients
- Live whole lobsters
- sea salt or kosher salt
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Instructions
- Kill the lobster
- Make sure your lobster is alive. The antennae and legs should move a little, even after keeping it on ice. If you're not sure. let them warm up on the counter for a few minutes.
- Once you know your lobsters are alive, put them in the freezer for 10-15 minutes to numb them up and 'put them to sleep'. They're still alive, but this makes sure they're not active and crawling around (or jumping out the pot like Lobster Rambo). I suggest doing this step whether you kill it by knife or by pot.
- Find the cross line at the top of the lobster's carapace (body). With a sharp chef's knife, quickly stab through the line and push the knife fully through the head to give the lobster a swift and painless death.
- Option 1: Steam the lobsters
- Use a stock pot large enough to comfortably hold the lobsters without crowding, and fill it with water so it comes up sides about two inches. Add in about 2 tbsp sea salt or kosher salt per quart of water. Use a steaming rack to place the lobsters on to steam evenly.
- Bring water back to a rolling boil over high heat. Place lobsters in the pot head first, cover the pot tightly with the lid, and return to a boil as quickly as possible before you start counting the time.
- Steam a lobster for 7 minutes for the first pound. Add 3 minutes per pound for each additional pound.
- Carefully remove lobsters from the pot with tongs. Be careful, they are very hot. Set in a large bowl for five minutes to cool before cracking.
- Option 2: Boil the lobsters
- Fill a pot (large enough to hold the lobsters) anywhere from one-half to two-thirds full with water. Use about 1 gallon of water per lobster so it is deep enough to submerge the lobster by at least 3 inches.
- Add 2 tbsp of sea salt or kosher salt for each quart of water. Bring the water to a rolling boil over high heat.
- Place the lobsters in one at a time, headfirst, making sure they are completely submerged. Cover the pot tightly with a lid and return to a boil. After the water comes back to a boil, start timing, and keep the water boiling throughout the cooking time. If it boils over, turn down the heat as much as you can without losing the boil.
- Carefully remove lobsters from the pot with tongs. Be careful, they are very hot. Set in a large bowl for five minutes to cool before shelling.
- Shelling the lobster
- First, remove the tails. Gently twist and pull, keeping your fingers on top of the tail, since the bottom has sharp bits. Use those kitchen shears to cut open the top of the shell and gently pull out the meat. Set aside in a medium sized bowl.
- Next is the knuckles and claws. Twist and pull them out from as close to the body as possible. Pop the knuckles from the claws and use those kitchen shears to open the knuckles and remove the meat into the bowl with the tail.
- Remove the thumbs from the claws by gently bending them back and slowly removing them. The blade should pull out with them and hopefully the thumb's meat will stay with the claw. If not, and the meat is in the thumb shell, pick it out with the lobster pickers.
- For the claws, you'll need a sharp chef's knife to gently, swiftly whack the claws (carefully! Don't hurt yourself and don't break through the meat!) We just want a crack in the shell that will allow us to break open the claw and remove all the meat. Carefully remove the meat and set it aside in the bowl.
- Next is the legs. Just like with the knuckles, twist and pull them from the carapace as close as possible. Using the kitchen shears, clip off the little pinchy feet and break the segments apart. Squeeze the meat out of the open ends and place them in the bowl.
- Repeat shelling lobster steps for all lobsters.
- Store the lobster meat in an air tight container for 3-4 days in the fridge, 3-4 months in the freezer.
Notes
- 1 lb.-1-1/4 lbs. = 7-9 minutes
- 1-1/2 lb. = 9-11 minutes
- 2 lbs. = 11-12 minutes
- 3 lbs. = 12-14 minutes
- 5 lb. = 22-24 minutes
- 1 lb. Lobster = 5-6 minutes
- 1 ¼ pound = 7-8 minutes
- 1-1/2 lb. = 8-9 minutes
- 2 lb. lobster = 10-12 minutes
- 3 lb. lobster = 12-14 minutes
- 5-6 lb. lobster = 18-20 minutes
- If you have roe in your lobster (lucky!) that's black, your lobster is under-cooked! Place the lobster back in the pot and cook until the roe red. If you don't want the roe, you can also simply remove the roe by rinsing it out.
- Keep the lobster shells for lobster stock. The shells keep in the freezer for 3-4 months.
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