Boiling lobster is the quickest and easiest way to cook the crustacean, and in this video, chef Howard Clark demonstrates the simple process. After making sure you've got a large enough pot and have filled it with enough water to cover the lobster completely, bring water to a boil, and lower the lobster into the water head first. (If you place them tail first, they might try to climb out of the pot!) After about 4 minutes (for a 1 to 1 1/4-pound lobster) or 6 to 8 minutes (for a 2-pound lobster), your lobster is ready for the eating. Clark offers readers one last tip -- start by eating the most flavorful part of the lobster: the claw.
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Hi, I'm Chef Clark from the Culinary Institute of America, and I'm going to show you this kitchen basic: how to boil lobster.
Today we're going to boil lobster. You definitely want enough water for the lobster to be totally submerged, and you want the water to be at a rolling boil. We're going to put her in head first - because if you put them in tail first, they will try to climb out of the pot. So, head first, and make sure that she goes all the way in.
Notice that the water has literally stopped boiling; well, I'm going to bring it back up to a light boil. Between six and eight minutes should be plenty of time in order to cook that; this is a two-pound lobster. On a one-pound, pound-and-a-quarter lobster, around four minutes should be just about enough time.
We've had the lobster in for between six and eight minutes, so she should be fully cooked. We're going to remove her and place her on a plate. For service, I would take the rubber bands off. The claw is a better flavored flesh than the tail - so if it was me, I would definitely eat the claws first. A little lemon, drawn butter... absolutely wonderful.
And that's how we cook a lobster.