When it comes to cooking, there is nothing more intimidating than making fresh lobster. No amount of folding butter into puff pastry or making your first sourdough starter even comes close to what it's like to cook live lobsters at home.
Many of those other challenging recipes are scary mainly for the amount of time they require, but when it comes to lobster it's all about what you're actually doing -- dropping a live creature with moving limbs and sharp claws into a pot of boiling water -- that makes it so terrifying. We're the first to admit that it's not easy.
Clearly, we're not trying to sugar coat things here. We want you to have all the facts before you embark on this new cooking milestone. But, since we all know that lobster is nothing short of amazing, and since making lobster at home means you can eat a lot more of it (because it's way more affordable), we're here to encourage -- no, demand -- that you give this experience a try. We promise, it only gets easier.
All you really need to make lobster at home is a little bit of courage, a lot of confidence, the ability to steer clear of their fierce claws and a pot of boiling water. Once you can handle that, you can make fresh lobster anytime. And it will totally improve your summer dinners.
Here's what you need to know:
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Season with salt, lemon and fresh herbs.
- Once the water comes to a rolling boil, clip the rubber bands off the lobster claws, pick up the lobster (with a dish cloth or kitchen gloves) and drop head first into the pot. Don't hesitate -- just do it.
- Cover the pot and allow to cook until the lobster shell is bright red and the tail has curled up underneath. It takes roughly 12-15 minutes to cook a one pound lobster. Serve with nothing more than butter or use in one of the recipes below.
If you need help figuring out how to dig into your freshly cooked lobster, watch the video below.
This story appears in Issue 63 of our weekly iPad magazine, Huffington, in the iTunes App store, available Friday, August 23.
Now that you're brave enough to cook a lobster, give these recipes a try.
