Lobster meat question

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GB said:
According to Alton Brown (who of course is by no means the end all be all expert) it does. When he did his show on lobsters he mentioned what I wrote above specifically. I am willing to say that he could very possibly be wrong though.

What I do know is I like the taste of the hard shell lobsters better. That I can say for sure :)

Me, too, but soft shells sure are easier to crack!

Note to those who aren't real lobster afficienados - when we talk about 'soft-shell lobsters', it's not the same as soft shell crabs. :)
 
Usually the soft shell ones are easier to crack, but sometimes they are even more difficult. It the shell is really soft then it won't crack at all. I end up peeling those off.

Yeah some of the hard shell ones can be a pain to get into. You also end up spraying all the people around you with lobster juice :LOL:
 
Yes, it's really irritating to end up with a soft-shell lobster, since you can't really tell until you've gotten them home & cooked them. The shell is difficult to remove & the meat is usually small & mushy.
 
As with most any seafood, fresh is always best. While working in Maine some years back, I passed a lobster house on my way back from a job site. Naturarlly I just had to stop in! I ended up purchasing a dozen of the 2 pounders and a shipping box and flew them home with me. They were absolutely fantastic:) . Much better than the ones that I've purchased from the grocery store:cool:
 
I agree that Maine lobster is the best. I grew up on the Long Island, NY, waterfront, & we used to buy our lobsters right off the boats. It's absolutely crazy that since moving here to VA where the markets get in Maine lobsters, how much better the Maine lobsters are then what we used to get fresh off the boats from Long Island Sound.
 
Yeah Breeze the difference in taste is amazing, but the crazy part for me was the fact that I paid half of what it would have cost me to buy them here in B-more. And they were far superior. :)
 
JohnL - your comment about shipping the lobsters brings back an episode I'll never forget.

Coming back from a summer vacation, our family stopped somewhere in Maryland for a driving/food break, & at the same top popped into a seafood market & bought several dozen live blueclaw crabs that were alive but chilled, & packed in layers in a huge cardboard box. Dad put them in the trunk & though nothing more about it.

Lo & behold, by the time we got home to NY, the crabs had warmed up & were running around EVERYWHERE. Dad grabbed the box, ran into the house & threw it into the bathtub while the rest of us chased escapees throughout the house. For several weeks afterwards we were finding very unpleasant smelling individuals in both the car & the house.
 
ironchef said:
Like Chef Jimmy said, a one pound lobster doesn't have very much meat in it. However, smaller lobsters tend to be sweeter than the larger ones like Maine Lobster.

wow, i totally disagree. imo, there is no better lobster than homerus americanus, the maine or northern lobster.

i've had lots of pacific and carribbean lobsters over the years: rock, spiny, etc., and they don't come close in terms of taste and sweetness. again, of course, just m.o..

i've heard that it has something to do with colder water.

as far as size goes, i've found that up to about 3 pounds, lobsters taste pretty much the same, but get a little tougher as the size goes up.
 
I completely agree with everything you just said Bucky!

Also along the lines of your cold weather comment, most people do not realize that the best time to get lobsters (Maine lobsters that is) is not the summer, but actually in October.
 
ironchef said:
If it's a lobster with claws, then I eat the claws first, the tail second, and the tomalley

Funny. I usually eat the lobster tamale last. Especially if its accompanied with some habanero salsa and sour crewam
 
Mylegsbig said:
Funny. I usually eat the lobster tamale last. Especially if its accompanied with some habanero salsa and sour crewam

Is it safe to eat the tomalley? I used to always eat it when I went out for lobster but then my cousin turned me off it saying that people can become very ill from it. (due to potential contaminants because it's essentially what the lobster uses to "filter" it's meals)

I quite liked the tomalley even though it grossed most people out but I dont want to eat it if it will make me sick.
 
I used to eat it too grumblebee, but stopped because of the health issues. It is probably OK though if you just do it every one in a while. JMO.
 
The reason why it's sometimes mentioned/written not to eat the tomalley is because the tomalley is actually the "liver" of the lobster, & like the liver in every other animal is where any toxins the animal has ingested will tend to concentrate.

However, like GB said, unless you were eating lobster every day, I am extremely doubtful that the small amount of tomalley normally consumed would make a dent in what we all probably consume toxin-wise on a daily basis - lol!!

The same seafood warnings are given about consuming too much fresh tuna/swordfish/shark, etc., except that's due to toxins accumulating in the flesh.

It also has a lot to do with where the seafood was harvested from - i.e. cleanliness of the water, etc.

I say - eat it & enjoy it. Moderation in all things (except perhaps hemlock, etc., lol!!!) won't hurt you.
 
Well actually the warnings are not quite the same. Lobsters live on the bottom of the ocean and the liver is where the toxis concentrate so eating the liver is not quite the same as eating the flesh of a fish.

I think most of the concern with the tomalley is the accumulation of mercury, which is very dangerous even in small amounts.

This will not stop me from eating the tomalley every once in a great while, but I am not going to make a habit out of it either.
 
GB, I watched some of Alton's lobster show. When he stepped on a roach to prove lobster was an insect, I almost gagged. Almost turned me off lobster for good. Thanks AB.
 
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buckytom said:
as far as size goes, i've found that up to about 3 pounds, lobsters taste pretty much the same, but get a little tougher as the size goes up.

I don't know, BT. The 2 pounder, like I mentioned, was tough as nails. Next time, maybe I should order Two 1 lbs instead, and get my fingers limbered up/get cracking.:LOL:
 
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