How
to BOIL a Lobster:
Boiling is one
of the easiest ways to cook Lobster
To
boil lobsters, fill a large kettle with water. Add 2 tablespoons
of salt for each quart of water (allowing about 2 quarts
of water for each lobster). Bring the water to a boil.
Place one live lobster in the pot at a time (head first)
and let the water boil again. Cover the kettle and simmer
about 15 minutes for each pound of hard-shell lobster.
For safety reasons, we recommend you leave the wooden
pegs or rubber bands around the claws on, until after
they are fully cooked. Be careful not to overcook. This
will make the meat a bit rubbery.
NOTE:
If you ordered cooked (or pre-cooked) lobster, reduce
cooking time to only 5 minutes.
If
the lobster is a new-shell lobster (or soft-shell), reduce
boiling time by three minutes for each pound.
When
meat is white, shells are bright red and 2 front antenna
pull out easily, lobsters are ready to serve and eat.
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How
to BAKE A Lobster:
Preheat
oven to 400 degrees. Place lobsters on back (belly up)
and split lobster from head to tail. Remove all internal
tracks including sac from the hear area. Place on baking
pan (on back). Add stuffing and melted butter to keep
moist and bake for 15 minutes at 400 degrees. After 15
minutes, reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake for an additional
10 - 15 minutes. For safety reasons, we recommend you
leave the wooden pegs or rubber bands around the claws
on, until after they are fully cooked. Be careful not
to overcook. This will make the meat a bit rubbery.
NOTE:
If you ordered cooked (or pre-cooked) lobster, reduce
cooking time to only 5 minutes.
When
meat is white, shells are bright red and 2 front antenna
pull out easily, lobsters are ready to serve and eat.
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How
to STEAM a Lobster:
Steaming is another very easy way
to cook a Lobster
Pour
about 2 inches water in the bottom of a large kettle.
Add 2 tablespoons of salt for each quart of water. Bring
the water to a boil. Place live lobsters in one at a time
(head first). Cover kettle and let water return to boil.
Allow 18 minutes for each pound of hard-shell lobsters.
If
the lobster is a new-shell Maine lobster (or soft-shell),
reduce boiling time by three minutes for each pound. When
the antennae pull out easily and a bright red color is
attained, the lobsters are ready to eat. For safety reasons,
we recommend you leave the wooden pegs or rubber bands
around the claws on, until after they are fully cooked.
Be careful not to overcook. This will make the meat a
bit rubbery.
NOTE:
If you ordered cooked (or pre-cooked) lobster, reduce
cooking time to only 5 minutes.
When
meat is white, shells are bright red and 2 front antenna
pull out easily, lobsters are ready to serve and eat.
How
soon should you cook a lobster once received?
When a lobster is shipped LIVE, it will have been out
of ocean water for about 24 hours. Live lobster is very
perishable and will not survive more than a day out of
fresh water. Live lobster therefore has a very small room
for error and should be cooked as soon as possible after
you receive your order. You should always cook lobster
live if it was ordered live since it will be raw and subject
to normal bacterial growth curves once it expires.
We
recommend you cook live lobster no more than 24 hours
after you receive them. Once cooked, lobster meat will
stay fresh about 3 - 4 days. You can freeze lobster (once
cooked) for up to 1 month.
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How can you tell if a lobster is still alive?
You can tell a lobster is still alive if it is moving
its legs, tail, claws or antenna. If a lobster flips its
tail vigorously, it is still strong and has survived shipping
very well. Do not worry if this is not so, they are just
a bit weak from shipping & handling. When cooked,
if the tail curls and the tail meat is firm, the lobster
was live before cooking.
Do
not worry about cooking live lobster. Lobsters have nothing
more than a primitive central nervous system. There is
an easy alternative for cooking live lobster though. Lobsters
sleep if placed on their backs. This puts them in a harmless
sleep mode (or beta state).
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Is there an alternative way to cook a live lobster?
Yes. Place lobster on sink or counter back down (facing
up). Place lobsters in a pot of cold water and set heat
on high. As the water heats up, the lobsters will gradually
cook while continuing to sleep. Start timing of lobster
from the time steam arises (if steaming) or water starts
to boil (if boiling). If you're stuffing lobsters, you
will need to split the lobsters while they are still alive.
But again, they will already be on their backs so they
will also be in the sleeping (beta) state.
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Can I put live lobster in my sink or bath tub
to keep alive?
NO! YOU SHOULD NEVER EXPOSE A LIVE LOBSTER TO FRESH WATER!
The single biggest mistake people make is placing live
lobsters in a sink or bathtub. If you do this, the lobsters
will die immediately. Salt added to water WILL NOT change
this problem. It is better to keep the lobsters cold in
the refrigerator in original bags and covered with a damp
cloth. But no more that 24 hours of refrigeration is recommended
before cooking live lobster. A basic rule-of-thumb for
cooking lobster is "the sooner the better".
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How do you travel with live lobster?
If you wish to travel with live lobsters. Place fresh
bags of ice directly on top of lobsters in a sealed container.
To ensure lobsters are not exposed to fresh melt water,
double bag ice in heavy plastic bags. You can use a Styrofoam
container or cooler purchased at any grocery store.
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How do you cook lobster?
Basic steaming directions include 2 inches of water in
a large enough pot. To boil lobsters, about 2½
quarts will suffice. For boiling, some people recommend
using seawater or adding 2 tablespoons of salt to the
water to mimic the 3% salt content of the ocean.
For more information, see the top of the page for basic
boiling, baking and steaming directions.
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How can you tell when a lobster is cooked?
A lobster is cooked when the 2 front antennae pull out
easily, when the meat is white, and when the outer shells
are bright red. Never overcook your lobster. Overcooking
will tend to make the meat hard and rubbery.
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Aren't lobsters supposed to be red?
Most people think that lobsters are naturally red in color.
However, all lobsters are actually a muddy-brown before
cooking. Live lobsters are greenish-brown because of many
different color pigments (chromatophores). When cooked,
all these pigments except for the red (astaxanthin) are
hidden.
Due
to a rare genetic occurrence, some lobsters are born with
blue shells. About 1 in every 30 million sport this blue
shell wardrobe. It has even been seen where some lobsters
are half blue and half red. Some have even been found
to be yellow and orange!
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