INGREDIENTS

INSTRUCTIONS

Many cookbooks will tell you to "plunge live lobsters head first in boiling
water to cover." But when I was a teenager, an Indian from Laprairie in
Quebec taught me a much better way. I have used this method to cook live
lobster ever since.
First, choose a large saucepan or soup kettle. Place the lobster on a large
piece of clean cotton or cheesecloth, tie the corners together at each end.
(This is not absolutely necessary, but it gives a deeper red to the lobster
as it cooks, and it makes removal a simple matter by lifting the cloth bag
with long forks slipped in each knotted end.)
Cover the lobster completely with cold water and add 1 tablespoon coarse
salt. If you're lucky enough to be near the sea, use sea water and omit the
salt.
Bring the water to a boil over high heat and let it boil 3 to 4 minutes,
then lower the heat to simmer and cook another 12 to 18 minutes, depending
on the size of the lobster. An overcooked lobster will have stringy meat.
As soon as the cooking period is finished, remove the lobster from the
water and dip briefly into a bowl of cold water. This will stop the cooking
without cooling the meat.
The Best Lobster: An old seaman living in Covey Cove, Nova Scotia, proved
to me that the only way to cook fresh lobster is to start it in icy cold
sea water with a good handful of seaweed. Bring it to a boil over a roaring
fire built on the shore. When the lobster becomes deep red, fish it out and
eat it. I got around this by using very cold water and sea salt purchased
at the drugstore. With a tinge of sadness I replaced the fire with my
stove's fastest heat. I got the seaweed easily enough from the market where
I bought the live lobster. A dish of hot melted sweet butter and a big bowl
of watercress complete this lobster treat.
New Brunswick: Lobsters when taken from the water are usually of a very
dark mottled bluish-green color, unless they come from a sandy watershed,
when they may be reddish brown in appearance.
After lobster is cool enough to handle after cooking, place the boiled
lobster on its back and remove both lage and small claws. If it is to be
broiled, split lengthwise from the head right down through the body to the
top of the tail, using a large sharp knife.
If it is to be used for entrees or salad, separate the head or body
portions from the tail, at the point where these join, by giving a sharp
twist with the hands. With a sharp knife, open the tail by cutting through
the thin cartilage beginning at the body and working downward. After
removing the thin shell of cartilage, the meat in the tail portion is
exposed and can be readily lifted out of the shell. The only part to be
discarded from this section of the lobster is the intestinal cord which
runs right down the very centre of the back and which may be a dark
greenish color or may have very little color.
Open the body by splitting down the centre. Remove the feathery gill-like
portions (sometimes referred to as "fingers") which lie around the meat
close to the shell and also the sandbags. This sandbag is found in the
centre of the body. It tough and cartilaginous and grayish green in color.
The female or hen lobster usually contains "coral" as the eggs are called.
This should be kept and used for garnishing.
The meat is best separated from cartilage by means of a sharp pointed knife
and nut pick. The soft grayish green substance found in the lobster is fat
and should be saved. Crack the large claws carefully with hammer or nut
cracker and remove flesh. The small claws contain very little meat and are
generally used as a garnish or in a sop pot. If they are to be opened,
split them lengthwise with scissors and remove the meat.
NOTES : The New Brunswick portion of these lobster hints was provided by
the New Brunswick Home Economists Association.
Recipe by: The Canadiana Cookbook/Mme. Jehane Benoit/1970 Posted to TNT -
Prodigy's Recipe Exchange Newsletter  by Bill & Leilani Devries
<devriesb@cyberbeach.net> on Aug 17, 1997

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