He’s Her Lobster

The people at Slashfood have this great lobster article. I like lobster just fine but if I could only pick one crustacean to eat for the rest of my life, it would have to be crabs. Oh! I love the crabs. Anywoo, I have made lobsters only one time in my life and I think it generally came out ok. Yes, I wanted to impress my then boyfriend with my awesome culinary skills so we decided that lobster would be a great romantic dinner. I was a little freaked out about cooking this living thing in a big pot of boiling water but luckily they were not screamers. You just pop them in, quickly put the lid on and wait for the slow, imminent death. (Just kidding, it is not that dramatic. On second thought maybe I am thinking about that past relationship.)

 It might be time to give lobster a second try. I recently watched an Alton Brown show about lobster and he made it look so good. He also informed me that it is better to steam or bake the lobster and not boil them as I had done the first time around. BP II and I will not be around this Valentine ’s Day weekend but it might be nice to do on a random Sunday.

Lobster Tank Tips

by Clare Leschin-Hoar, Posted Jan 28th 2010 @ 11:00AM

Photo: Simon Goldenberg

"We know Valentine's Day is mere weeks away, and for plenty of you coupled-up types, that romantic meal will mean indulging in some lobster -- butter poached, stuffed into plump ravioli, or maybe it will come in the form of a warming bowl of creamy lobster bisque. But for the lobster-bold, part of your Valentine's evening may mean pressing your nose up against the glass of a live lobster tank to choose your entrée while impressing your date. So to help you out a little, we talked to the esteemed Jasper White of Boston's Summer Shack, who shared a few surprising pointers:

If tail meat is your thing, ask the staff to choose a female lobster. Prefer claw meat? Ask for a male. And if you're a little worried about how long the lobsters have been languishing in that tank, the answer is to look at their antennae. Lobsters are cannibals. That's the real reason their claws are banded. But that doesn't prevent them from munching on their neighbors for a snack. If the antennae are stumpy and little, chances are your dinner's been in the tank for awhile."