Simply Recipes / Mihaela Kozaric Sebrek

We don’t have American lobsters out here in California.

Now, there are many ways to cook lobster, and probably just as many ways to eat them.

I like my lobster dipped in hot melted butter, so that’s what is presented here.

Plate of Lobster with Lemon Halves and a Bowl of Butter Sauce

Simply Recipes / Mihaela Kozaric Sebrek

Some people just like a squirt of lemon juice, or dipped in mayonnaise.

Some people meticulously extract the meat from every little leg.

I skip them and go for the claws, knuckles, and tail.

Plate of Lobster with Lemon Halves and a Bowl of Butter Sauce

Simply Recipes / Mihaela Kozaric Sebrek

For me, cooking lobster is something you do for a gathering of friends and family.

As soon as you get your lobsters home, put them in the refrigerator to keep them cold.

Do not store them in tap water.

A cracked open lobster on a plate with a whole lobster next to it

Simply Recipes / Mihaela Kozaric Sebrek

Store them in a sturdy paper bag in your fridge.

If you have to transfer the lobsters, pick one up by its body, not claw or tail.

That summer as often as I could I rounded up friends to enjoy a lobster feast.

A lobster being placed head first into boiling salted water

Simply Recipes / Elise Bauer

I still have the big aluminum pot I used.

This caused the lobsters to move less upon hitting the boiling water.

Be quick getting them from the freezer to the pot for the best results.

Two boiled lobsters being pulled from water with tongs

Simply Recipes / Elise Bauer

Enjoy Your Lobster!

By all means keep the bands on while you are storing the live lobsters.

I’m somewhat of a scaredy-cat (and I value my fingers) so I usually leave them on.

An image of a lobster on a plate with the words, “crusher claw”, “pincher claw”, “body”, “tail”, “melted butter”, “bowl for shells”, and “nutcracker” all written over the image

Simply Recipes / Elise Bauer

If you are cooking lobster for the first time, I recommend keeping the bands on.

An 8-quart pot will easily take one lobster, a 16-quart pot, 2 or 3 lobsters.

Fill a large pot 3/4 full of water.

A claw leg being pulled away from the lobster body

Simply Recipes / Elise Bauer

Add a tablespoon of salt for every quart of water.

Bring the water to a rapid boil.

Grasp the lobster by the body and lower it upside down and head first into the boiling water.

A lobster claw being separated from the joints

Simply Recipes / Elise Bauer

Continue to add the live lobsters to the pot in this manner.

Simply Recipes / Elise Bauer

Note the time at which the water comes to a boil again.

Add 2 minutes for every additional 1/2 pound.

The small end of a lobster claw being pulled off

Simply Recipes / Elise Bauer

The lobsters should be a bright vivid red color when done.

Translucent undercooked lobster meat really doesn’t taste good.

It needs to be opaque through and through.

Meat of a lobster claw being revealed

Simply Recipes / Elise Bauer

It should read 140F.

Remove the lobsters from the pot with tongs and place on a plate to drain and cool.

Did you enjoy this recipe?

A nutcracker being used to break the claw shell

Simply Recipes / Elise Bauer

Let us know with a rating and review!

What you’ll need:Before you get started, you’ll want to assemble some essentials.

Eating lobster is messy, you’ll need napkins.

Shell pieces being pulled away to reveal the lobster meat

Simply Recipes / Elise Bauer

There’s a good reason they give diners plastic bibs at restaurants when serving lobster.

You may also want to use some kitchen shears and nutpicks in addition to a nutcracker.

Start with the claws:Pull off the rubber bands from the claws, if they are still attached.

Scissors being used to break open the lobster joints

Simply Recipes / Elise Bauer

Twist the claws away from the body at the joints that connect them to the body.

Separate the knuckle from the claw.

Use a nut cracker to crack the main claw shell.

Lobster meat being revealed

Simply Recipes / Elise Bauer

Pull away the broken shell pieces and pull out the meat inside.

Dip into melted butter or not, and eat.

Bend the joints of the legs the wrong way, which breaks them.

Hands grasping the lobster tail with one hand and the body with another

Simply Recipes / Elise Bauer

You should have a piece of meat attached.

Simply bite this off, leaving a thin piece of cartilage attached to the rest of the leg.

Go for the tail:Now on to the lobster tail, where the biggest piece of meat lies.

Pull back and twist to remove the tail from the body

Simply Recipes / Elise Bauer

You’ll need both hands to get the meat from the tail.

Grip the lobster’s body with one hand and the tail with the other.

Bend the tail back away from the body to separate it from the body.

Grasp the end of the lobster tail with one hand, and the rest of the tail with the other

Simply Recipes / Elise Bauer

You will see one, and maybe two, odd things inside.

Youll see the greenish tomalley, which is the lobsters liver.

you could choose to eat it or not.

Pull back the end of the lobster tail to separate it from the rest of the tail

Simply Recipes / Elise Bauer

Some people spread it on toast or add it to lobster soups or sauces.

You may also choose to eat this or not.

The coral can be spread on toast as well, or used to add flavor to lobster bisque.

Use your finger to push the lobster meat from the small end of the tail out the big end

Simply Recipes / Elise Bauer

The tail will now look like a really big shrimp.

Grab the flippers at the end of the tail and bend them backwards gently.

If you do it right, youll get the meat from the inside of one or more flippers.

Pull out the lobster tail meat

Simply Recipes / Elise Bauer

This is uncommonly sweet meat, so dont forget the morsels in the flippers!

Remove the digestive tract:Before you eat the tail, pull the top of it off.

This will reveal a digestive vein which you will likely want to remove, much like deveining a shrimp.

Pull back the flap at the big end of the tail to reveal the digestive canal

Simply Recipes / Elise Bauer

It won’t hurt you if you eat it, but it is the digestive tract of the lobster.

There is meat inside the body of the lobster, mostly right around where you pulled off the tail.

For lobsters bigger than 2 pounds it is worth it to fish around for these extra morsels.

Use your fingertips to remove the digestive canal from the tail

Simply Recipes / Elise Bauer

Now justdip in melted butter(or not) and eat.

If you have crusty bread, it tastes great dipped in the lobster-infused butter as well.

A young child with a lobster that is about to be dropped into a pot

My young friend Alden with a live lobster about to go in the pot.Simply Recipes / Elise Bauer