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To Boil Lobsters

A method for boiling lobsters in salted water and serving with optional parsley garnish and remoulade or chili vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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To Boil Lobsters

Ingredients

Directions

Boil the lobsters

  1. Bring 1 gallon of water to a fast boil and add 5 oz of coarse sea salt.

  2. Carefully add the lobsters to the boiling water.

  3. Boil moderate-sized lobsters for 15 to 25 minutes, or large ones for 30 to 40 minutes.

Prepare and serve

  1. Remove the lobsters and take off the large claws, cracking the shells at the joints.

  2. Separate the tail from the body and split it down the middle.

  3. Arrange the lobster on a serving dish, garnished with curled parsley if desired.

  4. Serve with a remoulade or a mixture of oil and chili vinegar.

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

Lobsters
Provide the main meat, which turns firm and opaque when cooked through in boiling water.
Coarse sea salt
Seasons the cooking water so the lobster meat is lightly flavoured as it cooks.

The step that matters

Boiling the lobsters for the right time. Lobster meat turns firm and rubbery when overcooked, while undercooked meat stays translucent and soft. Timing should follow the size of the lobster.

“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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