That’s a turkey stock pot btw. I boil Thanksgiving turkey carcass in it every year and it always fits.
So, the 8 pound lobster came, I’m in shock and in love with living in the Northeast where this is plausible. Everyone always says the meat is tough, but I’ve always felt that’s just a challenge, traditional cooking would get the outer meat overcooked by the time the inside cooked, but I’m sure sous vide can fix this.
I read kenjis sous vide guide which had great temps- but nothing prepared me for how hard the shells were and the rigor mortis. I stuck a butcher knife through the brain. this guy walked around my kitchen counter confidently with the blade in like Jason Voorhies or something. I screamed a lot. Many times.
I humanely stabbed the brain the second I opened the box. The creature didn’t fit in my turkey stock pot – again, that’s a turkey stock pot. I ripped the tail off that continued to curl reflexively whenever I stuck kebab sticks in to keep it straight. I ripped the claws off using some big yellow gloves I use to stack wood, a hammer, a kitchen shear and a meat tenderizer.
I parboiled tail for a minute and the claws w knuckles for 5 min each. I then put the remaining carapace with little legs in for ten minutes for presentation.
I wasn’t expecting the claws to be to big. I did three flavors, three 1 gallon bags. Tarragon butter for the tail. Chili ginger for the big claw. Sultans secret spice for the sharp claw.
150f for 75 min for claw, dropped temp with ice to 130, added tail for 60 min. It all sat for prob 45 min in warm bath. I like the longer times to alleviate concerns of the meat being tough.
In conclusion you can absolutely get the best and perfect flavor from a large lobster it’s just more work. It’s a lot of work , I hit the claw with a hammer maybe 30 times without making a dent.
11/10 experience , hesitant to do again bc of effort.
by nycago
15 Comments
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This was an adventure to read, hats off to you
Ah yes, one of those ‘I’m glad I did it, I’ll probably do it again at some point but it’s a pain in the ass’ affairs.
A friend saw 3 lb lobsters on sale and thought they’d be great for a dinner party. Even those had nearly indestructible shells.
Upvoted for humane execution
8 lb lobsters really should be left in the ocean as breeding stock. They don’t taste as good as the little ones, anyway.
I highly recommend sticking to normal sized lobsters.
This is great and I applaud your efforts. Thanks for hammering it out for us.
One of my first jobs was at a lobster farm, where I learned how to cook and prepare lobster. Then, when I left there I worked at a few seafood spots.
Those big boys are hard as fuck to crack and you definitely need a jackhammer to get through the shells, especially the claws. So this is amazing work!
I am know intrigued and I want to try it myself, lol.
Did you sous vide in a bag or just in the shell itself?
Awesome job! No after cooked pics? 🙂
Reminder to freeze the lobster for 15 minutes to knock them out before killing them! It’s humane and will make the meat taste better.
Wow. That’s a sea monster!
3 different flavors sounds great though.
Would love to see some post cook pics if you’ve got them.
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Nobody who knows anything about lobsters says a large one is tough. It’s positively not true.
Lobster shucking is one of the times I break out the kitchen sheers. Ain’t nobody got time to deal with those damned things, just cut em.
Now that Maine has dropped size restrictions of Lobsters we will be seeing more and more larger ones available to purchase
Ethics aside of why large breeding stock should remain in the Ocean
Save your money and don’t buy them as they simply are not as good as smaller ones
We recently had a lobster bake with four-pound lobsters. Oh my goodness, they were incredibly challenging to open! Even we had to resort to using hammers to extract the claws, and it was still a tough task. From now on, we’re opting for two-pound lobsters. 😂
On a side note, I’m surprised these lobsters didn’t exceed the legal size limit. In New England, particularly Maine, lobsters are not allowed to be longer than five inches from the eye socket to the body.
Edit: From the eye socket to the rear edge of the body.