How to Cook a Live Lobster

Lobsters are one of the most delicious sea crustaceans, which are consumed as foods. The demand for lobsters in the world food market is very high. Commercially, lobster farming is practiced in many countries. Nevertheless, the supply is less than the demand for lobster. Lobsters are either soft-shell or hard-shell; the former are freshly molted lobsters. The meat of soft-shell lobsters is more tender and softer than that of hard-shell lobsters. While buying lobsters, always check the appearance, so as to select healthy and live ones with high meat proportion. Live lobsters are mostly greenish brown or black in color with active claws and curl tails.

Cooking a Live Lobster

Lobsters should be cooked properly, otherwise overcooking leads to a tough meat. They are cooked when they are alive. Lobster recipes are a delicacy for most seafood lovers. Some of the preferred methods of lobster cooking are steaming, grilling, baking, frying and other stuff recipes. A well-cooked lobster has soft, white meat and bright red shells. Let's take a look at the tips on how to cook a live lobster.

Boiling Lobsters
The thumb rule for cooking the lobsters is to boil them first. For doing so, take a large pot (depending upon the size of the lobster) and fill with water to about three-quarter of the pot. You can add one tablespoon salt for every quart of water added in the pot in order to increase the taste of the lobsters. Heat the water and bring it to a rolling boil. Add the lobsters in the pot, make sure that they are submerged completely in the boiling water. Cover the pot and boil for another 16-25 minutes depending upon the size of the lobsters. Lobsters weighing less than 2 pound should be boiled for 16-18 minutes, while those larger ones should be kept for 23-25 minutes. Drain water, serve lobsters with butter and garnishes as per your taste.

Steaming Lobsters
In order to steam lobsters, take a large pot with about 2 inch of water. Add one tablespoon of common salt for every quarter of water. Bring the water to boil. Place a steaming rack at the center of the pot. Put lobsters in the pot over the rack and cover with a lid. You can also add culinary herbs and spices in the water as per your taste. Lobsters taste better with ingredients like parsley, pepper, bay leaves, onion and celery. Steam lobsters as per the weight; 2 pound lobsters for 18 minutes and more than 2 pounds for 20-22 minutes. Once they are steamed according to the stipulated timings, drain water and serve hot.

Grilling Lobsters
For grilling the lobsters, boil them first by following the same procedure as mentioned above. However, reduce the timing and boil for about 8 minutes. Drain the boiling water, remove lobsters and cool them. Meantime, preheat the grill to a medium heat. Cut the lobster lengthwise, exactly in the middle portion. You can remove the black vein and sand sac. Lightly brush the cut lobsters with butter and lemon juice. Grill the lobsters with the shell-side down for about 10 minutes. Turn occasionally and brush with butter in between. Once the lobster meat turns tender, remove and serve hot.

For frying and stuff-baking lobsters, prior boiling should be done similar to what has been done for grilling. You can fry or bake the par-boiled lobsters (still in shell) according to your cooking method. Lobsters should be cooked as soon as they are brought at home. Since they are marine crustaceans, they cannot be kept or stored in freshwater. If you are not cooking immediately, cover them with a wet cloth and store in a refrigerator at 40-45 degrees F. Ensure that you remove and cook the live lobsters within 24 hours, otherwise they may not taste good. For further storage, half cook the lobsters and then refrigerate them.