good info allen.
amber, after you stab the sucker in between the eyes, continue chopping/slicing down through the carapace and into the tail, but not all the way through if you can. you could cut it in half, but it looks nicer just split imo. remove the guts (orangey stuff) and rinse out the body, reserving what allen mentioned for the stuffing. prepare your stuffing before hand, and fill the carapace, or now empty body cavity with the stuffing, and bake. if i have some steamed lobsters (already cooked), i like to use the meat from the little legs, along with lump crab meat and/or shrimp and/or scallops in my stuffing.
to remove the meat from the little legs, pull them off the body, put them on a cutting board, and using a rolling pin, crush and roll the legs towards the open end, squeezing out the meat, like toothpaste from a tube.
my stuffing usually consists of:
white bread, cubed, about 6 slices
1/2 cup of breadcrumbs
1/2 cup minced onion
1/2 tbsp minced garlic
1/2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
6 bay scallops
4 small shrimp, shelled and deveined, chunked
meat from the lobster legs
1 stick of butter
1/2 cup water
1/4 tsp old bay seasoning
1/2 tsp lemon juice
in a saucepan, melt butter, reserving about 2 tbsps to drizzle over top after stuffing. add onion and garlic, cook over medium heat until it begins to turn translucent, then add shrimp, and scallops and simmer for 2 minutes or so.
add this to a bowl of the rest of the ingredients, and mix to form the stuffing.
stuff the length of the lobster, or the empty body cavity if you split them in half, drizzle with reserved melted butter, and bake at 350 for 15 to 20 minutes, until the lobster turns red and the stuffing toasts on top.