To Boil a Lobster
Ingredients
Directions
Boil
Bring a pot of water to a boil and add a handful of coarse sea salt.
Tie the lobster's claws together and plunge it into the boiling water.
Boil the lobster for 30 to 60 minutes, depending on its size.
Drain and serve
Remove the lobster and place it face down in a sieve to drain and cool.
Once cool, split open the body and tail, and crack the claws to extract the meat.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Lobster
- Provides the main protein, whose texture firms and turns opaque as it cooks.
- Coarse sea salt
- Seasons the cooking water so the lobster meat takes on a light seasoning.
The step that matters
Boil the lobster for the right time. Cooking time depends on size, and overcooking toughens lobster meat because the proteins tighten and squeeze out moisture. Check the size before timing.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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