Cooking Live Maine Lobster With Young Chef Aiman - Boiling & Steaming | Exotic Dishes Video Series

Lobster implies luxury — no matter how it's prepared or where you're eating it. A "reasonable" lobster dinner in a big city is one of the most expensive menu items, ranging from $30 to $45 for a lobster weighing 1 to 1 1/2 pounds. If you are a lobster lover, one of the ways to minimize the costs is to buy them from local grocery store and cook at home. Even then lobster is still a rare treat in our household because of the price. Luckily, during the fall and around this time of the year (October & November), live Maine lobsters are relatively cheaper, and many local seafood suppliers would have a sale on them. Perfectly cooked lobster is surely one of life’s simplest pleasures. Live Maine Lobsters are a snap to cook. Steaming and boiling are the two most common ways to cook lobsters. In this how-to tutorial video, young Chef Aiman will take you through his first time journey of cooking the lobsters using both the boil and the steam method. In the future Aiman might show you the other two ways of cooking lobster -- grilling / barbeque and poaching / parboiling. Since this is Aiman's first time cooking lobsters, he will be using a guide from LobsterAnywhere.com. Here are some of the tips from them: Cooking lobster is an art, and if you do not get the timing just right, you might be in for a tough or chewy lobster. Never overcook your lobster. This makes the meat tough and stringy. But before you can cook your lobsters, you need to be careful handling them. If you have never handled live lobster before, keep the bands on! Some lobstermen insist on removing the claw bands before cooking. The rubber bands, they say, impart an off taste to the water and to the lobster. Only salty and experienced lobster lovers should remove them before cooking. How to Steam Lobsters Steaming cooks whole lobsters more slowly than boiling, so it reduces the chance of overcooking. It also makes less of a mess! Why steam lobster? Yields a more tender lobster than boiling. Lobsters are less diluted with water. Makes less of a mess. Timing is more accurate since the water returns to a boil faster Preserves the ocean fresh taste of lobster. Cooks lobster a little slower with less chance of overcooking. Steaming Instructions: Use a pot large enough to comfortably hold the lobsters and fill water so it comes up sides about two inches. ( Feel free to use a steaming rack to place the lobsters on or just add directly to the pot.) Add 2 tablespoons of salt for each quart of water. If you have sea salt—even better. Bring the water to a rolling boil, and put in lobsters, one at a time. Bring water to a rolling boil over high heat. Place lobsters in the pot (head first), cover tightly, return to a boil as quickly as possible and start counting the time. Steam a lobster for 7 minutes per pound, for the first pound. Add 3 minutes per pound for each additional pound thereafter. See chart below for approximate cooking times. Regulate the heat if the froth starts to bubble over. Carefully remove lobsters from the pot with tongs. Be careful, they are very hot. Set in a large bowl for five minutes to cool before cracking. How to Boil Lobster: For cooking a bunch of lobsters, boiling gives you even fast cooking. However, boiling lobster tends to water-log them.Why boil lobsters? Best for cooking 4 or more lobsters at a time. Cooks lobsters more evenly than steaming. High, intense heat cooks the meat quickly, making it to easier to remove from the shell. Boiling Instructions: Fill a pot (large enough to hold the lobsters) anywhere from one-half to two-thirds full with water. Deep enough to submerge the lobster by about 3 inches. Add 2 tablespoons of salt for each quart of water. (If sea water is available, even better. Skip the salt.) Bring the water to a strong boil over high heat. Place the live lobsters in one at a time, headfirst, completely submerging them. Pick up the lobster by holding the upper side of the thorax between your thumb and middle finger. Cover the pot tightly and return to a boil as quickly as possible. AFTER the water boils start timing, and regulate the heat to prevent water from boiling over, but be sure to keep the water boiling throughout the cooking time. Melt some butter while you wait. Carefully remove lobsters from the pot with tongs. Be careful, they are very hot. Set in a large bowl for five minutes to cool before cracking. How to Tell if My Lobsters are Cooked? Lobster is cooked when the shell is entirely red. When properly cooking lobster, the meat becomes a creamy white color all the way through–no translucent areas. Some chefs say when the antennae pull out easily, lobsters are done, but this is not always the case. For more information: https://lobsteranywhere.com/cooking-l... Recording Date: October 9, 2019    • Cooking Live Maine Lobster With Young Chef...