Lobster recipes?

[ant]

Hi all,

Now that the lobster season started here on the California coast, I was wondering if anybody has some delicious recipes for lobster. I was looking around the forum but didn't find anything so what better way to help the newbie bug hunters than allowing them to transform their catch in a mouth watering meal!

So if anybody has great recipes or links to them please post them here. I'll start with a recipe showed on the food network which I tried over the weekend: Barbecued California Spiny Lobster Recipe: Recipes: Food Network

 

[Doug Gausepohl]

Thanks for posting that... I gotta try it. Last weekend just took the raw tail (after cleaning it with the antenna) and cut lengthwise down the underside of the tail all the way to the fin. Put a little butter on it to keep it from getting too dry and put the topside shell face down on the grill. We had it on a covered plate with chicken to keep it warm until the rest of the meal was ready, but the lobster got cold while the chicken stayed warm... I'm thinking lobster might not keep heat well . Next time I might wrap it in foil and leave on the grill a little longer to heat it all the way through and keep it hot. The lobster turned out great, had melted butter but didn't need it (just wish it were hotter). They're great plain, in my opinion. I love garlic though, so I have to try that recipe you posted.

 

[Bill McIntyre]

This is one that was just sent to me yesterday, and it sounds great. It was in a PDF file and I have to type it to get into my MS Word recipe file, so I might as well type it here and then copy and paste.
*********************
SOY GRILLED LOBSTER WITH GINGER AND GARLIC

Ingredients
1/3 to 1/2 cup olive oil
3 Tbsp soy sauce
3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped fine (or pressed)
3 Tbsp fresh ginger root, peeled and finely grated
2 to 3 medium lobster tails
3 Tbsp chopped green onions as garnish (optional)

Preparation
Sauce
In a small skillet or sauce pan, heat olive oil over medium-low flame and add chopped garlic. Stir occasionally until garlic begins to turn golden (3 to 5 minutes).
Stir in grated ginger with its juice and soy sauce.
Remove from heat and set aside.

Lobster
Place lobster tails, belly up, on cuttng board. Using kitchen shears or heavy knife, cut each tail in half, lengthwise. Remove vein and shell debris. Place tail halves in non-reactive pan or platter, meat side up.
Spoon approximately 1 tbsp of sauce over exposed meat. Let marinate 10 minutes while BBQ grill is set to medium-high level.
Place tails on BBQ grill, meat side down, just until meat is seared (about 1 minute)
Turn tails meat side up and baste with some of the remaining sauce.
Reduce BBQ heat to medium or medium-low and close cover.
Grill until just opaque in thickest portion of tail, about 7-10 minutes.
Remove from grill, garnish with chopped green onion, and serve.
Place remaining sauce on table for diners to use as desired.

 

[ant]

The recipe was great but a bit to sweet in top of the lobster's sweetness for my taste. I've got to try someting new that tones down the sweetness, like a dip or something...

 

[jimy286]

Hi i work in a kitchen and i think just boiling it....if you like it a little sweet then put a carrot in the water.

O and with crab or lobster put loads of salt in the water so it does not water log.

 

[BenFord]

hi ant,
theres a ton of ways to cook lobsters but its trying to find the best one for you,
for a salad take 2 uncooked tails and place one up, one down. (place one tai pointing away from you and the other towards you) with the hard rounded shell on the outside tie them up and place in boiling water well salted for 10 mins (i find a small stock for the water helps, just celery onion lemon and fennel bulb) now when its cooked coll it as fast as possible in cold water (better running).
For a dressing finely grate 1/2 a zest of lemon pick a pinch of fresh thyme and sea salt flakes and fresh ground black pepper and finally use the end of a teaspoon to get a touch of nutmeg, mix with 5 dessert spoons of olive oil (just a normal virgin olive oil as extra virgin will be bitter for this).
remove the shell from the tail without cutting the flesh inside,(to do this cut down either side of the hard shell, now cut the flesh into 4-5mm rings and marinade in the dressing,
for salad leaves i would go for sorel, ruby chard, baby spinach, rocket and mizono, use the same dressing to coat the salad as well as the lobster.

 

[deep thinker]

Here we just boil em and eat em most of the time. For a quick sauce that goes well with bugs mix up a batch of equal parts mayonaise and tomato sauce, use that as a base to add spices and other goodies too or use as is...
Another nice way to do them is to take a biggish piece of kelp root, fresh taken while finding the bugs. Cut the kelp so you have a opening in the top and stuff this with cleaned abalone strips and lobster tails, close the top and bury it in the sand below a quick burning fire. When the fire has burned down dig below the embers and take out your lucky packet, open up and enjoy as is on the beach next to the fire.
You can also boil the lobsters and then take the tails, cut in half and clean. Smother in garlic butter mixed up with your favourite spices add a bit of parmesan or cheddar on top and grill in the oven for a few minutes, no more than 5 to 10minutes. Add one or two of these tails to a salad and youve got a lunch or dinner your mates will talk about for a while to come...
Damn now Im hungry

 

[deckhand mike]

I boiled mine for four minutes and then basted it with a butter mix for another six min on the grill. For the butter I took a stick and threw it in a pan with 7 or 8 sliced jalapenos from a jar and a heavy dose of lemon juice and reduced it, was soo good. Tart lemon butter taste then spicy.

 

[Bill]

If you want more tenderness, flavor and better texture from the lobster, forget about boiling, try steaming. Takes about 15 minutes so you have time to fry the garlic, toss it out and add a stick of butter to the drippings for a dip. KISS. Works great with 'horns and legs' after a good day too, when you freeze the tails green and eat the parts. My favorite is to steam and split the tails and put them on the grill when you turn the steaks.

 

[maytag]

I loved reading your recipe. It sounds uber-great. Oh, to be someplace where kelp grows abundantly, lobsters run wild and abalone doesn't come in cans that cost $30 bucks (actually, I think it's more than that).

If only my dinner came out of a lucky packet!

Here we just boil em and eat em most of the time. For a quick sauce that goes well with bugs mix up a batch of equal parts mayonaise and tomato sauce, use that as a base to add spices and other goodies too or use as is...
Another nice way to do them is to take a biggish piece of kelp root, fresh taken while finding the bugs. Cut the kelp so you have a opening in the top and stuff this with cleaned abalone strips and lobster tails, close the top and bury it in the sand below a quick burning fire. When the fire has burned down dig below the embers and take out your lucky packet, open up and enjoy as is on the beach next to the fire.
You can also boil the lobsters and then take the tails, cut in half and clean. Smother in garlic butter mixed up with your favourite spices add a bit of parmesan or cheddar on top and grill in the oven for a few minutes, no more than 5 to 10minutes. Add one or two of these tails to a salad and youve got a lunch or dinner your mates will talk about for a while to come...
Damn now Im hungry

 

[Bill McIntyre]

It sounds uber-great. Oh, to be someplace where kelp grows abundantly, lobsters run wild and abalone doesn't come in cans that cost $30 bucks (actually, I think it's more than that).

Don't overdue the jealousy. The abalone can only be taken north of San Francisco, about 500 miles from the nearest lobster.

 

[deep thinker]

And here its totally illegal to take them out for recreational guys, but commercials and poachers still harvest tons :rcard

 

[sciencemike]

HONEY LOBSTER
I have a lobster recipe that we use here.
I clean out their hole with an antennae enema. Then i get a bamboo skewer and insert it in the lobster to keep the tail straight while cooking. Meanwhile you get 1/4 inch of water boiling in a large pan. Also heat some butter in the microwave.

* Steam them hole for about 3-5 minutes till the shell turns red. (meat should be raw still but slightly cooked outside.)
* Take some Cooking shears and cut the lobster from tail to head down the centerline.
* Clean out the guts, stomach and the tail veign you might have missed with the antennae. (I dont like the guts in when it cooks because i really like to enjoy the head and body meat w/o that yellow goop)
* Blot dry
* Paint a generous amount of butter onto the flesh
* Place meat side down on a hot (very CLEAN - lobster can pick up flavors easily) grill that has been lubed with PAM
* Cook for 3 minutes more on that side so when you turn it the meat has nicely browned lines into the meat where it touched the grill
* Now turn it over, turn down the heat
* Liberally drizzle Butter onto the lobster meat so it can boil in its own juices and butter.
* This is the key.. Drizzle HONEY over the entire lobster meat.
* Let this cook till the legs are just starting to crisp, ~4 minutes or so.

The meat should be just slightly past the raw/cooked area so its all white and not transparent, but not too springy. The sugars of the lobster will be enhanced with the honey.

 

[BenFord]

Remember to keep them shells back in the freezer to make a lobster bisque at somepoint.

 

[OceanSwimmer]

Lobster Bisque?!!!!!!!

Now you have my attention! I've been searching for a good Lobster Bisque recipe....we have a few bugs in the deep-freeze that are prime for this. What I lack is a good recipe. Joy of Cooking has one, and it's kind of 'meh, I'm not impressed.'
So, c'mon, you Bug Slayers and Chasers......bring on the best Lobster Bisque you have! I wanna know! <and make it snappy; the bugs are thawing>:inlove

 

[charrior]

wow! This thread makes me wanna eat lobster! yumm!!!

 

[OceanSwimmer]

Lobster Bisque recipe

Yep, we made the Lobster Bisque Recipe found on another (ahem) Forum: It's easy and oh-so-good:
2 or 3 Lobsters, whole
2 C cream, scalded,(not boiled)
2 cups milk, also scalded
3c chicken stock
1 or 2 medium Sweet Onions, minced nice and fine.
1/4 C GOOD cooking sherry
3 T butter
1/4 C regular flour
fresh parsley or rinsed capers...
Pull the meat out of the Lobsters, cut into bite sized pieces and set aside (keep cool in the fridge)
Take the shells and boil 'em for about 10 minutes- cool 'em and then -smash- the shells to bits and place 'em back in the (now empty) lobster pot with the Chicken Stock. Cover and simmer about 20 minutes. Strain the broth: this is now your Lobster Stock!<-- set aside.
In a frying pan saute the onion in the butter until nice and tender. Add the cooking sherry and stir well, allowing the sauce to simmer gently. Give it about 7-10 minutes. Add the flour by spoonfuls, gradually. This should thicken and get nice and smooth. Gradually add the very hot Lobster Stock, stirring the while. Once this mix is almost boiling, you may add the chunks of lobster meat, and they will cook in the broth in about 4 minutes. Add the scalded milk and cream, and serve hot with Sourdough bread and salad. Serve in big bowls with fresh minced parsley or capers. Pour the grog and enjoy! YUM!

 

[Mr. X]

If you want more tenderness, flavor and better texture from the lobster, forget about boiling, try steaming. Takes about 15 minutes so you have time to fry the garlic, toss it out and add a stick of butter to the drippings for a dip. KISS. ...

Steaming - excellent, must try that. We have a large steamer that would be perfect for the task. Really should use it more, steamed veggies are better than boiled too. We used to use it all the time but just stopped for some reason. You could also boil something underneath while your steam others on top - very energy efficient.

We normally just boil for as short a time as seems reasonable (As Foxfish suggested some time ago). From cold then maybe 10 minutes, not long after they turn from blue to red. Then just serve with some garlic butter -- even that might be overkill. Some fresh, soft and crusty whole meal bread & butter goes down well with it. So sweet.

Sometimes we serve with spider crab and/or American signal crayfish at the same time, if we have them. They are more fiddly.

Any trimmings/veg/salad we usually serve seperately afterwards, so as not to interfere with the taste & experience. A glass of chilled white wine afterwards goes down well too sometimes. Why has my mouth started watering?!

Like the sound of the bisque & Bill's ginger & green onion recipe (not unlike my "Scallops David Cameron" recipe of a few year back) - that's a magic seafood combination IMHO.

 

[foxfish]

I would agree with Mr X in most respects, lobster is very nice just cooked & served simply.
However not all lobsters have the same sweet flavour that our cold water British ones do!
As for cooking times (boiling) - I would recommend cooking the creature for 3 min a lb.
That is about half the time you will find quoted is most modern cook books & a quarter of the time quoted in the older books!
For this timing to work you need to pay attention to a few things, the fish must not come straight fro the fridge or even worse the "freezer" but be at room temperature. The boiling pot must be big, the bigger the better & the water must be at a rolling boil.
The timing starts when the lobster is in boiling water not when it goes in the pot but when the water starts to reboil.

There is something about the smell of burnt lobster shell that seems add to the overall enjoyment of a what can be a expensive or even decadent meal.
I love lobster that is eaten outside, part boiled just enough to loosen the fresh from the shell & then finished off on the BBQ.

I also agree with Mr X about the whine but I would be drinking it before during & after the meal. :friday

 

[Mr. X]

BBQ lobster, like it. I think on of the SA spearos posted some cool pics of a 'brai"(?) of a lot of crays some time ago. Looked tasty

It's fairly rare that I get to eat what I catch on the day I catch it unfortunately, except when on holiday. I get back a too late. I figure freezing will kill them, although I've noticed leaving them in tap water or even tap water with salt, they fade away pretty quickly. I suspect it would be better to keep them in seawater, probably even cooking them in it. Saw a recipe the other day in a newspaper for an Italian fish dish cooked simply in seawater.