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Lobster Recipes

Posted: August 2nd, 2022, 6:45 pm
by PhaseThree
It's lobster season here in Northern Ireland and I've just been presented with a fish box full of them.
I usually eat them simply boiled with melted butter but I need to widen my horizons.

Does anyone have any favourite cooking methods or recipes that they could share ?

Re: Lobster Recipes

Posted: August 2nd, 2022, 7:00 pm
by Lootman
Are they alive?

Re: Lobster Recipes

Posted: August 2nd, 2022, 7:01 pm
by bluedonkey
Lobster Thermidor is a classic but not necessarily better than simply boiled or grilled.

Re: Lobster Recipes

Posted: August 2nd, 2022, 7:10 pm
by PhaseThree
bluedonkey wrote:Lobster Thermidor is a classic but not necessarily better than simply boiled or grilled.

I have tried restaurant Thermidor in the past but never been too impressed, Maybe home cooked fresh would be better.

Lootman wrote:Are they alive?

Very much so at the moment - Just gone into the chill compartment of the fridge to stun them.

Re: Lobster Recipes

Posted: August 2nd, 2022, 7:19 pm
by Lootman
PhaseThree wrote:
bluedonkey wrote:Lobster Thermidor is a classic but not necessarily better than simply boiled or grilled.

I have tried restaurant Thermidor in the past but never been too impressed, Maybe home cooked fresh would be better.

Lootman wrote:Are they alive?

Very much so at the moment - Just gone into the chill compartment of the fridge to stun them.

Then I am with bluedonkey here. I do not think it is possible to improve on a freshly-dead lobster. I would boil rather than grill them because that also kills them, but you already know that.

Similarly oysters, which you eat alive, is another example of a seafood that should be eaten almost alone, maybe just with lemon. Recipes invariably make them less tasty. Both lobsters and oysters have a very subtle flavour that can easily be overwhelmed in a recipe. (*)

Not what you asked I know. But sometimes you don't want to mess with perfection. :D

PS: What do you pay for a decent sized lobster up there? Until fairly recently I could buy them for 20 quid each at Brixham, but now they are 40 or even 50. Outrageous.

(*) Contradicting myself, my wife makes a lobster curry every now and then. But that is using frozen lobster tails and so not the same thing at all.

Re: Lobster Recipes

Posted: August 2nd, 2022, 7:53 pm
by PhaseThree
Lootman wrote:
PhaseThree wrote:
bluedonkey wrote:Lobster Thermidor is a classic but not necessarily better than simply boiled or grilled.

I have tried restaurant Thermidor in the past but never been too impressed, Maybe home cooked fresh would be better.

Lootman wrote:Are they alive?

Very much so at the moment - Just gone into the chill compartment of the fridge to stun them.

Then I am with bluedonkey here. I do not think it is possible to improve on a freshly-dead lobster. I would boil rather than grill them because that also kills them, but you already know that.

Similarly oysters, which you eat alive, is another example of a seafood that should be eaten almost alone, maybe just with lemon. Recipes invariably make them less tasty. Both lobsters and oysters have a very subtle flavour that can easily be overwhelmed in a recipe. (*)

Not what you asked I know. But sometimes you don't want to mess with perfection. :D

PS: What do you pay for a decent sized lobster up there? Until fairly recently I could buy them for 20 quid each at Brixham, but now they are 40 or even 50. Outrageous.

(*) Contradicting myself, my wife makes a lobster curry every now and then. But that is using frozen lobster tails and so not the same thing at all.

I tend to agree with keep-it-simple ethos of seafood cooking, but I thought it worth asking.

Somewhat bizarrely I have no idea how much a lobster costs around here - I've never bought one. All mine are supplied on a "quid pro quo" basis. I keep the extended family's home and business technology working and every month or so a box of seafood turns up. Today was lobster day.

Re: Lobster Recipes

Posted: August 2nd, 2022, 8:59 pm
by scotview
My dad used to go down the shore at low tide to the "lobster holes", with his clip or cleek. Particularly on spring tides, wow that's long ago and far away. He got some cracking big lobsters.

Before boiling he ran the cold water tap over their head for a while, he reckoned the fresh water was a shock and also drowned them. This seemed to make them comatose before boiling and there was virtually no movement. (No fridges then)

Lobsters, in my book, should be boiled, cooled then eaten.

Maybe with a bit of fresh home made garlic butter.

My dad used to say lobsters are best when there's an R in the month, that's an important rule even today.

Never pay for frozen lobster.

Finally, a really good, big, fresh Partan will knock spots off a lobster any day of the week !! As usual I've got far too much to say !

Re: Lobster Recipes

Posted: August 3rd, 2022, 11:16 am
by redsturgeon
I'd agree there's not much better than a fresh lobster, grilled with garlic butter but for a change and a bit of oriental flavour, stir fried with garlic, ginger and chilli is good too. I am also partial to lobster with pasta.

John

Re: Lobster Recipes

Posted: August 3rd, 2022, 8:30 pm
by Eboli
I've been very unlucky with lobsters. The last three I boiled just didn't taste (with apologies to Lorraine Chase) as they oughta - all were strangely metallic in flavour. Meanwhile, after a third disaster with half a dozen oysters from Green's, I doubt whether my stomach can face another oyster (I have wondered whether I'm picking up something from the outside of the shell). So far my weekly consumption of langoustine continues without problems, but they seem to be one of the few seafoods that I can face having on a plate before me. Other than a cooked oyster in a pie..., oh, and a freshly peppered whelk.

Eb.

Re: Lobster Recipes

Posted: August 3rd, 2022, 10:12 pm
by johnstevens77
Boil the tails and claws and eat warm with butter or hollandaise. Use the lightly crushed raw heads to make bisque.

john

Re: Lobster Recipes

Posted: August 4th, 2022, 6:45 pm
by PhaseThree
johnstevens77 wrote:Boil the tails and claws and eat warm with butter or hollandaise. Use the lightly crushed raw heads to make bisque.

john


Pretty much what I have done....
Lobster tails with melted butter last night..
Lobster Bisque (actually closer to a chunky lobster chowder) tonight, with bisque made from the shells and claw meat lightly warmed in garlic butter added in.

Roughly based on the following recipe https://cafedelites.com/lobster-bisque/ - recommended