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To Boil a Lobster

A simple method for boiling a live lobster in salted water until cooked.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
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To Boil a Lobster

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Prepare

  1. Fill a large pot with water and add salt.

  2. Bring the water to a rolling boil.

Cook and serve

  1. Carefully add the live lobster to the boiling water.

  2. Boil the lobster for about 10-15 minutes until it turns bright red.

  3. Remove the lobster and let it cool before serving.

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

Live lobster
Is the main protein; its shell and flesh set and turn bright red as it cooks.

The step that matters

Carefully add the live lobster to the boiling water. Adding the lobster to rapidly boiling water keeps the water temperature high so cooking starts quickly and evenly. Lowering the lobster carefully prevents splashing and the water from stopping its boil.

“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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