Name: To Boil a Lobster
Ingredients: 1 medium-sized lobster; 1 large spoonful of coarse sea salt; boiling water

To Boil a Lobster

Ingredients

1 medium-sized lobster
1 large spoonful of coarse sea salt
boiling water

Directions

Prepare

Fill a kettle nearly full of boiling water.
Add a large spoonful of coarse sea salt.
Wind a string around the lobster to secure the claws to the body.

Cook

Plunge the lobster head first into the kettle.
Boil a medium-sized lobster for 30 minutes or a large one for 45 minutes.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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: Is the main protein, which turns firm and opaque as it cooks.
Coarse sea salt: Seasons the cooking water so the lobster meat is lightly flavoured.

“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.