Boiled Lobster
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the pot
Choose a live lobster that feels heavy for its size.
Fill a large pot with water.
Add a handful of coarse sea salt.
Bring the water to a boil.
Boil and cool
Plunge the lobster head first into the boiling water and boil for 20 minutes, until the shell turns red.
Remove the lobster and let it cool until you can handle it.
Break down and clean
Break off the claws and tail, and carefully remove the soft fins near the body.
Use an ordinary can opener to break apart the shell.
Save the green fat, coral, and white curd-like substance from the shell.
Remove all flesh from the claws and body, cutting it into half‑inch pieces.
Split the tail shell, remove the intestine, and save the flesh.
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
- Its flesh is the dish itself, cooked by boiling until the shell turns red and the meat sets.
- Sea salt
- Seasons the boiling water so the lobster meat is lightly flavoured as it cooks.
The step that matters
Boiling the lobster for 20 minutes. Overcooking toughens lobster protein, making the meat rubbery and dry, while the shell must still turn red so the meat is fully cooked. Timing the boil closely keeps the flesh tender.
“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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