Lobsters probably top the charts for most sought out seafood in the summer, or at least neck and neck with its fellow crustacean brother, the crab. Being in the North East we are EXTREMELY lucky to have such a valuable amount of fresh seafood available three out of the four seasons. Lobsters, I feel, are hit or miss for a lot of people; you're either into them or super skeeved out by them. Why is that? I know they’re not the most attractive of the underworld creatures, they're no adorable seahorse, but in terms of taste and texture were just talking about a bigger, meatier crab right? 

If we’re being honest, I think most peoples’ hesitation to lobster is the biggest trouble. "They're such a hassle to cook!" "Who wants to sit and work for their food picking out that meat?" "They're tasteless, I don't see the point in them" or "Lobster is so expensive, is it even worth it?" If you're one of these people, please keep reading, we’re gonna answer all of these questions! 1- How to cook them, 2- How to maintain flavor and texture of your lobster through the cooking process, 3- How to shell them and, lastly, number 4- Why are lobster's or lobster products so expensive? 

1. How to cook a lobster: 

Lobsters are super easy, like super easy, to cook. Like most seafood we have quite a few cooking mediums to choose from here; we could grill, boil, steam, broil or bake them. Most of these techniques are self-explanatory. Since lobsters should be cooked fresh (yes, alive) some of these may not be for most of you. Grilling, broiling and baking are done best if you split your lobsters in half raw down the middle first. This would involve killing a live lobster and I can see a lot of people giving me dirty looks for this. Start with sticking the tip of your knife into the head above the eyes; this kills them immediately. Then follow through with your cut down the length of the body. If you're not into sacrificing your food before dinner, option two would be steaming or boiling them, which are my favorite. Boiling is a good choice but it’s where you risk over-cooking your lobster and losing flavor. 

2. Maintaining flavor and texture during your cooking process: 

Lobsters can go from perfectly cooked to over-cooked in a matter of minutes and there’s no bigger disappointment than an over-cooked lobster. The meat shrinks and flavor escapes, the texture is tough and this is probably why lobsters get a bad rep. Steaming your lobsters is really the easiest way to try to cook it properly. For two lobsters, get yourself a big pot and fill it ¼ of the way with water, about 2 inches from the bottom. Bring this to a boil. When your water comes to a boil, add a halved lemon and salt and pepper. I use sea salt specifically here because I want them to cook as naturally as possible. Next, drop your whole live lobsters in for about 7-8 minutes, depending how big they are and how big your pot is. As soon as they’re done, they'll be bright red. Dip them in an ice water bath to stop them from cooking. The shock is also going to help release the meat from the shell and make cracking them a breeze. 

3. How to shell a lobster: 

Lucky for you guys I'm getting better with this whole video thing. I could tell you step by step how to do this but by the third or fourth step I’m probably gonna lose ya. Here’s a little how to video of breaking these guys down instead! 

4. Why are lobsters so expensive? 

If we were talking 60-80 years ago, lobsters were a peasant’s dish. In fact, these ocean crawlers were considered so lowly that the surplus was given to prisoners for dinner! It wasn't until the early 70's people started taking these guys more seriously. Now lobsters can be found in most grocery stores across the US. Their prices, you'll notice, usually stay around the same price throughout the year. That’s because for most places these guys need to be outsourced and shipped. However, it’s in the peak or end of summer you'll start seeing these prices get real funky, shooting up and down. That happens to be peak season for lobster catching; depending how the season goes, prices may drop due to availability or skyrocket because of how fast they'll sell out. So really, it’s not their fault they get a pricey reputation. 

To address and stop the fuss from the age old debate of, man I love lobster rolls but really don't get paying $20 for one... look at the amount of lobster you’re holding. Besides its seasonal price tag, who do you think shucked all that meat? My video may look like it took 3 minutes for two lobsters but these guys easily took over ten. Labor is majority of what you're paying for in a lobster roll but we’ll get to that in a later post...