Lobster & price question

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BigAL

Sous Chef
Joined
Jan 3, 2008
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W.KS
On sale is 8-10oz whole cooked lobster for $4/each. Haven't seen them yet, but I'm guess'n they look like big crawfish or very small lobsters. Anyway, for out here it kinda sounds like a good price, about $8/#. I don't know if they are hard or soft shell.

Not have'n lobster very much, maybe once every 5yrs(?), I'm wonder'n if this is something to consider or just skip this "loss leader"? Or should I buy as many as I can get my hands on and have lobster rolls on the cheap? I was think'n 2/person would be ok. Just talk'n wife and kids.

Just wanted your opinion.

Thanks
 
That seems like a low weight for a whole cooked lobster, if it is a Maine. I don't buy Maine lobster, but I do know that folks down here sell stone crab claws called "lights". The meat inside does not fill the shell. The price is about 1/2 of the market price for that size. Your getting twice the number of claws, but only 1/4 to 1/2 the actual meat of market priced claws.

I also know that you sometimes run into the same thing with live blue crab. That is why I always want to feel the weigh, since the places I generally buy from sell by the dozen.

Craig
 
If it's an American lobster (Homarus Americanus) 8-10 ounces is well below legal weight.

If it's a clawless lobster, that's another story. That's about $8 a pound for whole cooked lobster. That's not a great price in MA but may be in W.KS.
 
If it's an American lobster (Homarus Americanus) 8-10 ounces is well below legal weight.

If it's a clawless lobster, that's another story. That's about $8 a pound for whole cooked lobster. That's not a great price in MA but may be in W.KS.

What if that sucker had been sitting in a tank for several weeks with no food intake or was a "light"?:( I believe, like panulirus argus (Florida/Caribbean lobster) legal size is determined by measurment, not weight.;)

Craig
 
...legal size is determined by measurment, not weight.;)

Craig


Exactly right. The length of the shell between two specified points determines the legality of the lobster's size. As to whether they were starved or are spiny lobsters, I cannot say.
 
Just a week ago, I also took a rare look at lobster. Still $14/lb live, plus the store'll steam cook your pick. They looked scrawny, not much more than a pound each. Pre-cooked, I'd probably buy a meal's worth at $8. But, a Red Lobster restaurant doesn't charge much more than that either, I figure. Can I ask 2 questions: 1) is lobster seasonal? when is the best time to buy? 2) frozen tails, either raw or cooked, does lobster hold up well compared to fresh?
 
Just a week ago, I also took a rare look at lobster. Still $14/lb live, plus the store'll steam cook your pick. They looked scrawny, not much more than a pound each. Pre-cooked, I'd probably buy a meal's worth at $8. But, a Red Lobster restaurant doesn't charge much more than that either, I figure. Can I ask 2 questions: 1) is lobster seasonal? when is the best time to buy? 2) frozen tails, either raw or cooked, does lobster hold up well compared to fresh?

Lobster, both the Maine and Florida/ Caribbean have seasons. I don't know the season for Maine lobster, but do know that it is still going around Thanksgiving. The regular season, in Florida and US, starts August 6th and ends March 31 of the following year. However, a lot of the Florida/Caribbean lobster is imported. Much from South America. If it is below the Equator, the seasons are different (our winter = their summer etc.), so we can probably get that type of lobster year round in frozen form.

In some recipes, I prefer frozen to fresh. That being said, I know my lobster is frozen fresh because we have caught them.;)

Craig
 
Just a week ago, I also took a rare look at lobster. Still $14/lb live, plus the store'll steam cook your pick. They looked scrawny, not much more than a pound each. Pre-cooked, I'd probably buy a meal's worth at $8. But, a Red Lobster restaurant doesn't charge much more than that either, I figure. Can I ask 2 questions: 1) is lobster seasonal? when is the best time to buy? 2) frozen tails, either raw or cooked, does lobster hold up well compared to fresh?


Maine lobsters molt in the warm weather months. They outgrow their shells (hard shell lobsters at this point), cast them off and grow a new bigger shell to grow into (soft shelled lobsters).

A hard shell lobster's shell is thicker and heavier and it's tightly packed with flesh just before it is discarded.

A soft shell lobster has a thinner, lighter and oversized shell that the lobster will grow into so there is a lot of space between the meat and the inside of the shell.

Soft shelled lobsters are much less expensive in the summer around here. Supermarkets sell them for as low as $4.99 a pound. This is considered off season for lobsters.

Hard shells sell for more in the cold weather months.

It's not clear to me what percent of the weight of a live lobster is meat when comparing a soft shell to a hard shell. In one case the shell weighs more because it's thicker but it's full of meat. In the other case, the shell weighs less because it's new but the meat doesn't fill the shell.

I don't hesitate to buy soft shells in the warm weather months because I can readily enjoy them at a lower cost.

I don't freeze lobster meat though you certainly can.
 
Costco lobster is now coming from Brazil. It is anybodies guess where they are getting 10 oz whole lobsters, but I don't think they would not have a lot of meat.
 
Maine lobsters molt in the warm weather months. They outgrow their shells (hard shell lobsters at this point), cast them off and grow a new bigger shell to grow into (soft shelled lobsters).


Thanks for all that Andy.

Do you still have to deshell with the softshells?

We get soft shell crab round here and they dress them but removing the face then pulling the gills and entrails out. You then cook and consume them (shell and all) and they are some fine eating.
 
You still have to remove the shell but you can often do it without tools. The shells are thin enough that I can break them apart with just my fingers.
 
Thanks.

We were out one night with some friends and had a walk down the water front. On the rocks were hundreds of soft shell crabs. Once they molt they are soft for 3-4 days and are defenseless as they can't move. I just wish I had had a bucket, though that area it is illegal to take crabs and since it is highly public I likely would have ended up in the pokey, so likely a good thing I didn't have the bucket.

Some people take crabs as they are molting, called peelers, and use them for fishing.

Ok.. back to the lobster now. I think it is getting close to time to order some delivered again.
 
Costco lobster is now coming from Brazil. It is anybodies guess where they are getting 10 oz whole lobsters, but I don't think they would not have a lot of meat.

I work on breathing gas systems. I'm also an avid underwater hunter that believes in proper fisheries management.

I was working on a clients compressors in Kingston, Jamaica back in the early '90's. This company harvested conch and lobster for export. At that time, they were already working 40 miles off their coast because they had wiped out everything closer to the point of nolonger being profitable. Most of their lobster harvest was cooked on site, frozen and sent to Japan. They had a few local independants that still fished the close to shore areas. They would buy these folks catch for a pittance. I was working close to the area where they cooked the lobster before it went into the freezer. I watched in horror as they started dropping the local "catch" into the pot. Everything went in, 2"-3" (bodys) lobster and females with eggs. Our legal size in Florida requires a minimum 3" carapice! Jamaica, at that time, had no fisheries management. They probably still don't. Haiti is the same way.

Now we are seeing a greater influx from South America as the Caribbean countries are seeing their "catch" dwindle. The Bahamas, have probably created their fisheries management in time to avoid total disaster, but they are dealing with a major invasive species from the Indian ocean (pet trade), which we are beginning to see in our waters. Mexico, maybe. The Caymans are in good shape. Cuba has a great fisheries management system. Too bad we have to "cater" to a small population of exiles, so Cuba is off limits for imports.:(

Ok, I'm off the soapbox now!:)

Craig
 
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Costco lobster is now coming from Brazil. It is anybodies guess where they are getting 10 oz whole lobsters, but I don't think they would not have a lot of meat.


The lobsters I see at Costco are spiny lobsters, not Maine lobsters. Just tail, no claws.
 
The lobsters I see at Costco are spiny lobsters, not Maine lobsters. Just tail, no claws.
I think that has to be the case. I can't imagine a cold water lobster from Brazil. I hadn't noticed the Brazil label until recently at Costco. Didn't buy them.
 
I've never seen a whole spiny out here. They have all been cold/main look'n lobsters. The pic in the flyer(not that it matters) looks like a main/cold, two claws anyway. It doesn't say they are frozen, but out here it is assumed. So lobster season could easily be thrown out. I'm guess'n they got a hot deal and are use'n it to get people in the door, hence "loss leader".

BTW, next page shows lobster tail, frozen 3-4 oz for $6/ea. They look like main(no spots), but I'm guess'n there are all kinds in the freezer.

Kinda interesting. Get some claw/knuckle meat for $2 less. No brainer, buy the bologna for $.88/12oz. ;):LOL: Better get some toilet paper then.:sick:
 
Florida has several other species of lobster that aren't harvested commercially or are extremely rare. Three actually resemble roachs more than what people associate with lobster. I borrowed some pics.

lobste5.jpg


lobste6.jpg


lobste7.jpg


lobste4.jpg


The others, 2 clawed and another type of spiney are very rare.

Craig
 
Florida has several other species of lobster that aren't harvested commercially or are extremely rare. Three actually resemble roaches.

Craig

On one of my commercial fishing trips we hooked up for dinner with some shrimpers. They had bulldozers. Nothing but a walking lobster tail - about 6" of solid lobster meat.
 
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On one of my commercial fishing trips we hooked up for dinner with some shrimpers. They had bulldozers. Nothing but a walking lobster tail - about 6" of solid lobster meat.

If they were shovel nosed lobbies, they were probably the ones in the top picture. the meat is sooooo much sweeter than the spineys.

Craig
 
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