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How to Eat Lobster
If you’ve never eaten a Maine lobster before,
you may not know where to begin. Let’s begin
at the beginning.
Make sure you tie on a good, large bib.
Assuming you’re eating boiled and to a lesser
degree, steamed lobster, you can assume
things will get a bit wet. It’s likely at
sometime during dinner, food will fly. Bibs
are highly recommended and part of the fun.
Putting on your bib is a public declaration
that dinner is ready and things are gonna
get wet!
Start by twisting off each of the lobster's
claws at the point where they are attached
to the body. American lobsters have one
crusher claw and one pincher or ripper claw.
The crusher claw, which is generally larger,
has teeth for crushing shells. It can be
either the lobster's right or left claw
and is generally the tougher one to crack.
Usually, live lobsters are sold with rubber
bands around their claws. You'll want to
leave them in place until the lobster is
cooked unless you want to find out what
a lobster can do with his crusher claw.
Once you've twisted the lobster's claws
away from its body, however, you can remove
the rubber bands. Separate the claw from
the “knuckles” of the legs and with a nutcracker,
crack the claw and knuckle shells. Use a
lobster pick—or some long narrow utensil,
to remove every delicious morsel from the
claws and knuckles.
Most lobster eaters find the meat in the
lobster tail to be the sweetest and most
enjoyable. With the lobster's tail spread
open, grasp the lobster with two hands and
break the tail away from the body with one
decisive twist. When you break the lobster's
tail away from its body or carapace, you'll
discover some “green stuff”. That's technically
tomalley--the lobster's liver which some
folks consider a delicacy. However, like
other animals, contaminants are concentrated
in the lobster's liver. Should you be one
of the folks that enjoy the tomally, we
suggest moderation. We’ve never understood
why you’d eat liver when you have all that
terrific lobster available. In the body
shell, you may also have bright red bits
which is roe – the eggs of a female lobster.
This “lobster cavier” is a definite delicacy
and if you have a female, you’re one of
the lucky ones at the table! Next, break
off the little flippers at the end of the
tail, known as telsons. There are tiny morsels
of meat in there that you don’t want to
miss. The next step is easy. Insert your
thumb into the flipper end of the lobster
tail. Unless the tail is enormous, you should
be able to force the meat out the wide end
with one push. If you run into trouble,
or as an alternative, hold the tail, bottom
side facing up, across the palm of your
hand. A good squeeze will crack the ribs.
Place your thumbs on either side of the
shell and pull apart. The entire tail will
open and the meat slides out easily. There
is a dark, vein like strip along the back
of the tail that should be removed before
eating.
And then there are the legs. You’ll be surprised
how sweet the meat is in lobster legs, and
it’s worth the effort. The easiest way to
get at this meat is to literally suck it
out. Twist the legs away from the body and,
one by one, bite down on the end of the
shell to loosen the meat and then suck hard.
It’s well worth the effort. Make sure you
have plenty of clarified or liquid butter
on hand. It’s one of the ultimate food treats
and a makes for a great celebration with
friends and family.
If you want a visual “how to”
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