Preparation of Lobster
Ingredients
Directions
Cook
Boil a large amount of water in a large kettle.
Hold the lobster by the back and plunge it head first into the boiling water.
Simmer for 20 to 30 minutes, depending on size.
Chill the lobster thoroughly in ice water.
Shell and pick the meat
Break off the claws and tail.
Remove the meat from the tail in one piece, discarding the intestinal vein.
Separate the body from the shell and save the coral.
Discard the gills and remove bits of meat from the body.
Disjoint the large claws and remove the meat whole if possible.
Remove the meat from the small claws.
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
The step that matters
Plunge the lobster head first into boiling water. Dropping the lobster in headfirst into a large volume of rapidly boiling water brings the temperature back up quickly and kills it fast, which helps keep the meat tender and the shell from being damaged by thrashing. Using a large amount of water keeps the temperature from dropping too far when the lobster goes in.
“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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