Lobster

Set it free!

Sickkittens,

It's frozen. Too late.

Don't grab it out of the pot with your bare hands.

Get some butter melted just a few moments before you are ready to serve, so you don't get scalded butter which tastes like crap.

Also, those tiny little forks look shitty, but they help dig the meat if it doesn't come easily.

Servings: 2
Level of difficulty: Intermediate
Preparation Time: 40 minutes, plus cooling
Cooking Time: 35 minutes

Ingredients
1 live lobster, around 750g
Salt
75g Butter
½ leek, finely chopped
1 shallot, finely chopped
300ml Champagne
300ml fresh fish stock
800ml double cream
1 bunch of Chives, sliced
1 egg yolk
25g caviar
100g Emmental, grated

Method
1. Bring a large pan of salt ed water to the boil. Add in the lobster and bring back to the boil and simmer for 8 minutes, then remove the lobster and set aside to cool.

2. Once the lobster has cooled, twist off the larger claw arms and legs. Break the claw arms apart at the joints and crack the shell using the back of a knife blade or a hammer. Remove and reserve the lobster meat from inside the claw arms and legs.

3. Cut the lobster in half lengthways. Lift out and discard the intestinal tract running down the centre. Remove and reserve the tail meat, cutting it into chunks.

4. Remove the soft greenish liver (called the tomalley) and any red roe from the head or tail and reserve. Clean and reserve the lobster shell halves.

5. Heat the butter in a heavy-based saucepan. Add in the leek and shallot and fry gently until softened.

6. Add in the champagne and fish stock and cook briskly until reduced by a third. Add in 400ml of double cream and cook briskly until reduced by a third. Season with salt , mix in the chives and set aside to cool.

7. Whisk the remaining cream until stiff peaks form. Fold in the egg yolk.

8. Fold the cream and yolk mixture into the cooled sauce. Fold in the caviar and the Emmental cheese.

9. Fold the reserved lobster meat into the champagne sauce. Spoon the lobster mixture into the reserved lobster shells.

10. Preheat the grill until very hot. Grill the filled lobster shells for 2 minutes until golden brown and serve at once.

Cooks Notes:
This recipe contains lightly cooked egg. Raw or lightly cooked eggs should not be served to young children, elderly people, invalids and pregnant women because of the risk of salmonella poisoning.

In accordance with RSPCA guidelines and the recommendation of the University Federation of Animal Welfare, the most humane way to dispatch a live lobster is to put it into the freezer at -20°C for at least two hours before cooking.

mmmmm, lobster

how are you cooking it? boiling? steaming? grilling?

is it a whole lobster, or just tails?

i am a purist about my lobster. i like it with some seafood butter for dipping, although bechamel can be a nice compliment.

Boiling. That seems to be the best way to begin.

Bummer. Bury it then.

now I am craving lobster hehe

Use the force on it, I hear lobsters taste delicious after you infuse them with the force.

I had lobster tonight too. We go to a place in Newport all the time.

lets see a pic of dinner

eating supper at midnight?

10 pm here in cali. And th lobster turned out pretty good. Just boiled it in water with some butter and garlic salt and then melted some more butter to dip the meat in. YUMMY

ye, i think he didnt thought of taking a pic though...

thaw it out and try cpr

Nope sorry, we didn't take a pic.

interesting bit of trivia right there

I should have taken a pic. Sorry about that!

We had two lobsters each. YUMMMMMMMMMMM

Yeah, i never knew that either.

Lobster cooked well is awesome, as is Lobster Bisque soup...

Anybody else here remember the lobster scene from the Woddy Allen movie, Annie Hall?



ANNIE
(Laughing)
I can't! I can't put him in the pot. I
can't put a live thing in hot water.

ALVY
(Overlapping)
Gimme! Gimme! Let me do it! What-what's
he think we're gonna do, take him to the
movies?

Annie hands the lobster to Alvy as he takes it very carefully and drops it
gingerly into the pot and puts the cover back on.

ANNIE
(Overlapping Alvy and making sounds)
Oh, God! Here yuh go! Oh, good, now
he'll think-
(She screams)
Aaaah! Okay.

ALVY
(Overlapping Annie)
Okay, it's in. It's definitely in the pot!

ANNIE
All right. All right. All right.

She moves hurriedly across the kitchen and picks up another lobster. Smiling, she places it on the counter as Alvy stands beside the refrigerator trying to push it from the wall.

ALVY
Annie, there's a big lobster behind
the refrigerator. I can't get it out.
This thing's heavy. Maybe if I put a
little dish of butter sauce here with a
nutcracker, it will run out the other
side, you know what I mean?

ANNIE
(Overlapping)
Yeah. I'm gonna get my ... I'm gonna
get my camera.

ALVY
You know, I-I think ... if I could pry
this door off ... We shoulda gotten steaks
'cause they don't have legs. They don't
run around.

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