Boiled Lobsters
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Choose heavy, live lobsters.
Boil a kettle of water with coarse sea salt.
Cook
Add lobsters to the boiling water and cook for 30 minutes.
Remove lobsters from the kettle and wipe them clean.
Rub the shells with a little salad oil for a clear red appearance.
Cut and serve
Crack the large claws without mashing them.
Split the body and tail from end to end with a sharp knife.
Separate the head from the body, keeping the division subtle.
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 lobsters
- Main protein; their shells and meat set and turn red when boiled.
- Salad oil
- Thin coating on the shells that gives them a glossy, clear red look.
The step that matters
Cook the lobsters for 30 minutes in boiling water. Boiling water must be at a full boil when the lobsters go in, so the heat returns quickly and cooks the meat evenly. Too little heat or too short a time leaves the meat underdone near the shell, while overcooking toughens the protein and makes it rubbery.
“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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