Need lobster cooking tips

W

WhiteH2O Horn

250+ Posts
While walking through Central Market with my girlfriend (soon to be fiance) last night, she commented that it would be cool if I cooked some lobstertail for dinner some evening.

I practically grew up cooking and have made just about everything under the sun, but it dawned on me that I have never even attempted lobstertail. I'm assuming it's not too complicated and that all the info I need is available on net, but I wanted to see if any of the folks here in the HF community have any tips/advice.

Muchas gracias!
 
What I usually see in CM is warm water tails. Most often they are mexican tails. What I usually do is get some shears and cut the tail down the back, splay it open and then "free" the meat from the shell, but leave it in the shell (you don't want to have to fight the meat out later and you want your meat to get coated with your mixtures) and grill them basted with lemon garlic and butter. Grill them until there is just a slight pit of pink in the slit you cut down thru the meat and then turn them over and spill the juice out and give then a bit of scorch for looks. You want a dash of color, but you don't want to overcook them. Medium rare is how I would describe it. An overcooked lobster is quite a tragedy.

Of course, more butter and lemon for dipping. Another twist is to add a dash of sherry and/or garlic to the dipping juice.

Alternatively, I have steamed them in various ways after cutting them open like above. Sherry, garlic, italian dressing, zatarains have all been put in the steam on occasion. Not all at once, but you can figure something out.
 
are we talking live lobster or just lobster tail?
Ignore the cost because you would have to be out of your mind to buy an uncooked, frozen, lobster tail instead of a live lobster!

If we are talking live lobster- its very simple.

Get out the deepest pan you have- at least 10QT and preferably 1foot- 1.5 ft high that has a lid (very important).

Fill 3/4 water- liberally season water with salt and/or cajun seasoning - bring to FULL BOIL.

grab 1.5-2.5 lb lobster (dont get anything bigger- the smaller ones taste best) and dunk live lobster headfirst into boiling water- slam lid down.

If you dont have a lid, there is a good chance your lobster does a beautiful backflip onto the counter and dies outside the water- VERY BAD FOR TASTE!

boil for 7-10 minutes. then remove lobster- put on a plate to cool for about 5-10 minutes.

serve with pan melted real butter & handheld nutcracker.

Thats it- super simple!
 
Grill = too dry

If you boil it, use a bag of crab boil.

I broil mine in the oven. Cut the tail "ribs" longways down the center so that the darn thing does not curl up into a circle. Wrap foil around the shell part or it will burn and smoke like craxy. Good stuff.
 
You don't want to grill a cold water tail (Maine), but grilling a warm water tail with plenty of butter will be just fine if you don't overdo it. Then again overgrilling anything is a bad idea.
 
All 3 methods sound great. I'll probably wind up boiling them in one of my big *** stock pots.

I did see the warm tails (Mexican) at CM, but I'll probably opt for the Maine lobster when the time comes.

Thanks again!
 
The cold water tails are firmer and sweeter. I don't think you will see cold water tails frozen and sold at CM. It's really a different beast. I wouldn't grill a maine lobster. Many of the mexican tails come from seemingly juveniles. Big old Bahamian tails are fantastic on the grill. They are also very hard, if not illegal, to come by. I know that we had to sneak ours back from Abaco. I think it was because they were out of season even though ours were legal when speared.
 
instead of grilling (which is quite good actually) how about searing them in a pan with some herbs and butter and then finish them off in the oven? I'm not suggesting this as a recipe but rather a technique.
 
Maybe a stupid question. But how exactly do you make the transition from live lobster to ready-to-grill tail? Just hold the sucker down and hack off the tail, or what?
 
YChang,

I can't think of any reason why that couldn't be very good. Maybe a little Annato seed oil for that orange hue.

My guess is that you just don't get warm water lobster live because it doesn't live in commercial quantities in the US and they won't let live foreign animals in. I'm just spitballing, but I would assume that you would just rip the tail off of a live lobster.

I haven't much messed with the coldwater beasts so I wouldn't know how to remove a tail, but the boiling and steaming techniques for cold water tails are good enough that I wouldn't mess with success and try for grilling them on an experiment.
 
Another tip for dispatching live lobsters (from aforementioned Good Eats): Chill them in the freezer for 20 minutes before "go time." It makes them lethargic and less likely to try and get away.
 
I've only cooked live Maine lobsters but I've always steamed them. Similar to the suggestions for boiling but only cover the very bottom of the pan--maybe a 2 cups of water and some salt. Get it hot, put in the lobsters, put the lid on the pan and wait 5 to 7 minutes. I'd go with the whole lobster rather than just the tails--that being said I prefer claw meat to tail meat.
 
Ahhh. A favorite topic.

NickDanger, as always, is on the money on a lot of this. A couple of points, however, most of the warm water lobsters (crawfish) that we get here is from the Florida Keys, as well as Mexico. Yes, on the grill is the best for these, pretty much just as nick described. If you get one that is intact, either warm or cold, and you want to just get the tail, simply curl the tail up under itself with one hand, take the carapice (head) with the other, and twist in opposite directions. With the tail curled, you will get all of the meat including that which is up in the carapice.

If you opt for the main lobster, definitely go for the live. Either boil or steam. Other than some kosher salt in the water, you really don't need anything like crab boil or other spices in the water. Fresh lobster has such a sweet and rich flavor on its own, especially with a little bit of melted butter and lemon, that anything else really takes away from it.

Nick, I would love to run into you down Bahama way and raid a few shelters, blue holes, and coral heads.
 
You can run over me if I'm in the Beehammas. I'll be so happy I wouldn't care.

I have only been to Nassau, Freeport, Eleuthera and Abaco. Freeport and Nassau shouldn't really be lumped into the same category as Abaco and Eleuthera. Oh, and we spent a night at the Coral Sands which is on Spanish Cay, I think. The times we have been in Abaco the crawfish haven't been in season, but the time on Eleuthera we had lobster for breakfast. And a lot of conch. We were able to buy some frozen tails while in Abaco and couldn't eat all we bought so we snuck some back. I think it was improper for non-residents to be in possession of lobster at all during the off season. Even frozen. I'm also pretty sure that you aren't allowed to bring the crawfish back into the states.

Can you get them alive in Florida?
 
the easiest thing to do with Lobster tail if you buy the small tails that have been previously frozen, is to take the meat out of the shell and cut into 1/2 inch cubes and then sautee in butter and garlic and use a toping on top of pasta, fish, or whatever else it is that you like to cook. Hell I'll eat lobster suateed in butter and garlic all by itself, the only problem is that those tails are usually only 1/4 pound of meat each.

All that said if you got the dough buy a 2 lb live Maine lobster (or even better 2 2lb lobsters) and either boil or steam. No season in the water is necessary becuause unlike shrimp or crawfish the seasoning will not penetrate the shell.
 
Nick - The Keys lobsters have to be taken alive and hand measured, so yes, you can buy them alive, but usually only in Florida unless you special order through a custom meat / seafood place local to you.

I lived in Freeport for 2 years and spent my days off spearfishing for extra money. Although Freeport, as a town, is a pit, the rest of Grand Bahama Island is fantastic, especially towards the east and west ends. There are so many uncharted blue holes and small boat and airplane wrecks around the shallows crawling with lobsters that you could literally go out some days and get 250 - 300 in a few hours. If you can think of ways to cook a spiny lobster, I've probably done it since I would get sick of the ordinary run of the mill ways.

I've also spent some time in Nassau, Eleuthra, and the Abacos. You could not pay me enough to go back to Nassau, but I am planning another visit to the Abacos next year, and am wanting to hit the Exumas also.
 
Nassau and Freeport were at least 25 years ago for me, so I shouldn't talk any **** about them, but I do know that they just aren't the same deal as the out islands. Like comparing Vegas with Seaside.
 
Agree. The out islands are "like the Caribbean 50 years ago." If you get 20 miles or so away from Freeport, it's more desolate than Abaco. Would still favor Abaco overall for visiting, Freeport if you want to live in the islands for awhile, though.
 
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