Techniques To Cook Live Lobster
When live lobster for delivery shows up on your doorstep know you are in for a treat. Use care when picking up live lobsters and look to check that all claws have bands on them for your protection. Without these bands the claws can actually break a finger or two. You can take these off once you have cooked the lobsters and it is dead.
Defrosting frozen lobster meat or whole lobsters can destroy the flavors of them. Instead take directly from the freezer and heat until they are warm not hot. This will give you delicious tender lobster that takes as fresh as the day you placed it in the freezer.
For fresh live lobsters it only takes 10 to 14 minutes to boil per pound. All you need is a very large pot for boiling them with salt added and crab or seafood boil if you want them to turn out with more of a Louisiana flavor. Place lobster head first into pot and cook until the shells turn a bright shade of red. This means they are ready to be moved from the pot.
A helpful tip to remember is to always pierce a hole in the lobsters head as soon as they are removed from the pot. The meat will be tender and mouthwatering when removed from the shells.
You can also recycle the water the lobsters were boiled in and freeze in jars or bags for soups or casseroles that you may want to make in the future.
Be sure your live lobsters are healthy. When you touch or handle a lobster its tail should curl downward and then go back to normal when let go of. Always check the smell of the lobsters it should be fresh, if you have any doubt then throw it out. They also should show a good amount of aggression when you handle them, this is a sure sign of great health in them. It is best that you cook live lobsters immediately upon receiving them as the flavors and taste are more delectable.
Softer shelled lobsters are more tender and take much less time to cook. The harder shelled ones still taste great but are a little tougher and they take a longer amount of time when boiling.
You can also grill whole lobsters on a hot to medium hot setting. Whole lobsters are placed onto a pre-heated grill and then left on one side til it turns bright red then turned and left on opposite side until that is the same in color. Serve with delicious garlic butter and gumbo if you have it on hand.
You can split live lobsters for delivery and cook on the grill too if a whole one is too much for just one person to eat. Place split sides down first and cook three minutes then turn to shell side and cook about 6 minutes longer. The shell will be the shade of bright red as it is when boiling when done. Add some lemon juice squeezed on it and of course butter and your ready to eat.