You can keep your lobsters in the fridge overnight easily to eat later. We put them in the vegtable draw, sill wrapped in slightly damp paper and put a piece of cardboard over them to minimise disturbance when we open and shut the fridge door. If it is very hot outside and the fridge is working overtime, add a cold pack or two, right at the bottom of the draw.
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Then you can additionally parboil the lobster to keep another day or two.
Or you can cook it though to eat now.
We recommend the biggest pot you can find. When this is full of boiling water it will bring the lobster up to full heat much more quickly than a smaller pot with less water. Even in a very large pot and smaller lobsters we boil them one at a time.
Remember to salt the water heavily – lobsters are designed for sea water and lose their juiciness if boiled in pure water.
Boiling
Take your lobster from the fridge and place in the freezer. Leave for 30 mins or over. In the cold it will become docile and easier to put in the pot. Do not leave for so long it freezes – but if it is still very vigorous after 30 mins – you can put it back in for longer.
In line with the new regulations being discussed we prefer to dispatch the lobster before boiling. You will need your largest and sharpest knife.
We usually put a large chopping board at the bottom of the sink for the next stage for kitchen tidiness, but you can also place your chopping board in a large baking tray if your sink is too small. This means any fluid released cannot escape around your kitchen.
Find the cross on the central dorsal line where the head meets the tail. Place the tip of a sharp chef’s knife on this cross and swiftly plunge the knife down forwards through the head. The legs will continue to move a bit afterward but the lobster is in fact dead.
Here is a link with an easy video to direct you :
The water should be at a rolling boil and we use a strong pair of tongs clasped around the head end to put the lobster in tail first. You don’t need the tongs to put it in, but you will need them to get to out so its best to have them nearby ! Start timing from when the water just starts to boil again. For parboiling. We think around 4 mins for a small lobster, 6 for a medium and 8 – 10 for a large – but it does depend on the ratio of water to lobster so we can’t be more accurate than that. For full cooking add 2 minutes for a small lobster and up to 4 for a large one.
When your timer goes off, remove the lobster with the tongs and immediately place in bowl of iced water until it is cold. Then drain well and store in fridge until ready for next stage of cooking.
I have cooked all the lobster recipes on this site with parboiled lobster.
