bigjay

Very OT but what gives you more meat. One 4 pound lobster or two pounders. Thanks for the help. These will be steamed or boiled.

soccr

The meat you get from a 4-pounder will have no flavor at all. People who know lobster will rarely eat anything larger than a 1 1/2-pounder -- even a 2 pounder is a bit too much, but at least there would be two tails and 4 claws with a lot more flavor than the 4 pounder.

djkbooks

In my experience (lots) 1-1/2 to 1-3/4 pound lobsters are just right. Usually, you pay more per pound the larger the lobster. You get more "meat" versus "shell" by weight. But, if you're going for quality "meat", it's better to get lots of smaller ones (three or four 1-1/4's are better than one four-pounder). Once they're over two pounds, they're "old". So, while you'll get lots more "meat" for the buck (and no one calls it "meat"), it will be tough, stringy, and flavorless.

Also, steamed (or even microwaved - you can get nifty microwave boxes for this) is far superior to boiled. Boiling a lobster transfers all the flavor to the water.

John

Lived in Maine 5 years ages ago but never heard of microwave lobster. REALLY? How long do you zap them?
Can get live Maine lobster in my local market here in the great NW. Might like to try zapping them

joesorce

Hmmm...trying to think....if I were a live lobster would I rather be dropped in boiling water or zapped?????

bigjay

Hey folks thanks for the info. Will go for the smaller ones and will steam them.

sojourn

You can't tell the difference in the taste of a lower weight lobster to a larger one. That's ridiculous, as lobsters are lazy. The meat does not get tougher as the lobster gets larger. The difference in taste would have to do with the amount of time a lobster is cooked for. Density however, has to do with the shell, if a lobster is called "hard shell" its shell will be tougher because the lobster has fully grown into its shell compared to a soft shell lobster.

Once the water is boiling place the lobsters into the pot. Cooking time is 12 minutes per pound for the total weight of the lobsters that you put into a pot.

If a lobster's tail is straight after it is boiled, it means the lobster was dead before it was cooked. Do not ever eat a lobster that has a straight tail, as there will be bacteria in it that can be cause you to get food poisoning.

Kate2

Saw something on television not long ago about cooking lobster. They said that you should NOT drop a live lobster into boiling water. It takes a long time to die. The way to do it is with the quick stab/chop to the back of the "neck" top of the spine area. If you have to kill your own food before you eat it, I would prefer to do it in the most humane way. I imagine the little lobster screams coming from the pot as I run out of the kitchen with my hands over my ears.

djkbooks

For lobster microwave containers and directions, go to www.lovemainelobsters.com - though, depending upon where you live, if live lobsters are sold at your local grocery store, these microwave containers may be for sale there as well.

JJason

so boiling is bad? I never know how long to steam for....
anyone try steaming with beer?

FlyFish

No flavor in the meat of a 4-lb lobster? Nonsense. I spent most of my career as a marine biologist in the Northeast and I've eaten hundreds, maybe thousands, of lobsters. Plenty of them were 4 lb and over (up to a mammoth 26-lb monster that fed about a dozen of us for two meals). Those big lobsters have plenty of flavor when cooked properly, though eventually the meat does start to get a bit stringier than the little guys - but not at 4 lb, much less at 2 lb, which is a nice size for one person, though real lobster eaters will be left looking for more.

A 4-lb lobster will yield more meat than 2 2-lb ones - in part because there's more there and in part because you'll be able to dig meat out of places that you won't bother with on the small ones. The best meat on any lobster, by the way, is the meat in the "knuckle" - the last joint in the "arm" before the large claw.

You definitely do want a nice, hard shell, because that indicates a lobster that's grown into its shell and is full of meat. The best way to tell how long a lobster has been in its shell is to look for barnacles and other crud growing on it. New shells - with small lobsters inside - are nice and clean. Always buy the one with big barnacles. True soft-shells are lobsters that have just molted. They're usually around in late summer in Maine; they're deeply discounted and still not worth the money.

Cooking time - - 12 minutes per lb for all the lobsters in the pot is far too long for anything more than 1 or maybe 2 lobsters. For example, if you had 5 2-lb lobsters that system would have you cooking them for 2 hrs! Ten minutes after the water comes back to a boil is plenty for the smallest lobsters and 30 minutes would be plenty for anything up to about 5 or 6 lbs.

Lobsters do not have "spines" like humans and other vertebrate animals, so sticking a knife into the back of the head (carapace, actually) doesn't kill them particularly quickly or humanely. That system was what Julia Child recommended. Nice lady, but she apparently didn't know much about lobsters. Like most invertebrates, most of their nervous system is on the belly (ventral) side. Boiling water is probably still the most humane way to dispatch them, but there's no way around the fact that you're killing a living animal and there is likely to be some pain involved. I don't like it either, but the alternative (no lobster) isn't particularly appealing either

I agree that less water is better, and a steamed lobster is best of all (though I haven't tried microwaving - sounds like a pretty cruel way to kill a lobster to me).