Welcome to the EGGhead Forum - a great place to visit and packed with tips and EGGspert advice! You can also join the conversation and get more information and amazing kamado recipes by following Big Green Egg to Experience our World of Flavor™ at:
Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Instagram  |  Pinterest  |  Youtube  |  Vimeo
Share your photos by tagging us and using the hashtag #BigGreenEgg.

Want to see how the EGG is made? Click to Watch

Urgent Help Needed from New Englanders...

Options
jeffinsgf
jeffinsgf Posts: 1,259
edited November -1 in EggHead Forum
Two live lobsters just got delivered to my doorstep. They're a birthday present from some dear friends. Problem is, I'm leaving in a few hours to go to my folks. My wife, unfortunately, has to work second shift Thursday and Friday. The first time we'll have to eat these lobsters is Saturday.

They're in an insulated box full of wet newspaper and decidedly live right now.

Should I:

A) Cook now, and store whole in the refrigerator til Saturday?

B ) Cook and pick, holding meat in the refrigerator til Saturday?

C) Store in the insulated box in the refrigerator til Saturday?
· Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Comments

  • Rascal
    Rascal Posts: 3,923
    Options
    Keep them cold and perhaps wrapped in a damp towel. No problem if they expire before you cook them (a day or so). This might help:

    http://www.lobsters-online.com/docs/lobsterFAQ.htm
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Carolina Q
    Carolina Q Posts: 14,831
    Options
    Can't answer your questions, but do NOT put them in fresh water. It'll kill 'em.

    I hate it when I go to the kitchen for food and all I find are ingredients!                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

    Michael 
    Central Connecticut 

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • jeffinsgf
    jeffinsgf Posts: 1,259
    Options
    Thanks, called the place that sent them (Graffam Brothers in Rockport), and they said it would be best to cook now and hold in the shell until Saturday...so that's the plan.
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • jeffinsgf
    jeffinsgf Posts: 1,259
    Options
    Thanks, Michael...I had heard that before. From what I've read, the noise and rattling around when you throw them in boiling fresh water is all involuntary contractions and gasses escaping. They're dead the instant the fresh water hits their gills.

    212F temp probably doesn't help, either. :cheer:
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Mainegg
    Mainegg Posts: 7,787
    Options
    cook and pick or just cook and keep till sat. they have had enough stress at this point. NO FRESH WATER they will turn to mush! really the meat turns to cottage cheese texture. I would not try to hold till sat though.
    you post about calling the sending co was not showing for me LOL sorry for the double info :)
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • jeffinsgf
    jeffinsgf Posts: 1,259
    Options
    Thanks for the confirmation!

    Nancy's going to boil them tonight when she gets home from work. I've always (always... ha!, I've made lobster like three times) done the dirty deed. I told her to drop them and walk out of the room. :P
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Carolina Q
    Carolina Q Posts: 14,831
    Options
    A friend once brought some live ones home in a paper bag. Couple of hours before she planned to cook. She felt so sorry for them, listening to them crawling around in the bag that she took pity on them and put them in the sink full of fresh water. Wimmin!! ;)

    Don't know if that's a humane way to kill 'em, but kill them it did!

    I hate it when I go to the kitchen for food and all I find are ingredients!                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

    Michael 
    Central Connecticut 

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Little Chef
    Little Chef Posts: 4,725
    Options
    I grew up in New England and worked in a Lobster Pound for many years. I would highly recommend par cooking (par boil) them today, then finish cooking them Saturday night. The flavor of the meat is greatly diminished if the lobster dies. Get water to a boil, add the lobsters... For correct time, let me know how large they are please?
    Truly, you can only expect them to live 48 hours out of water. Let me know how big they are and I will post further. :)
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • jeffinsgf
    jeffinsgf Posts: 1,259
    Options
    Thanks, LC. They're 1-1/2 pounds each.
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Rascal
    Rascal Posts: 3,923
    Options
    You might try steaming them. Only takes a quart or so of water (rather than gallons) and you don't wind up pouring some of the savory flavor down the drain. A little salt in the water is nice too..
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • jeffinsgf
    jeffinsgf Posts: 1,259
    Options
    Thanks Rascal. We found a courtbouillon recipe the last time we made lobster. It was sublime, so I think we'll do that again. The cooking liquid, further reduced with the shells after cleaning, made the base for a killer gumbo.
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Rascal
    Rascal Posts: 3,923
    Options
    Interesting.. A close friend ran one of the largest, commercial lobster operations in New England. He told me that lobsters would crawl around on ice for up to a week. They shipped them about anywhere you could imagine.
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Little Chef
    Little Chef Posts: 4,725
    Options
    If it were me...I would get a pot of water to a boil (I also add a stalk of celery to the water to simulate the taste of seaweed we used to use in New England). Boil the water, add the losters, and time after the water retuns to a boil, 7 minutes. Then remove, and chill. Saturday, same thing...bring a pot of water to a boil, add the lobsters, and after the second boil, time 9 minutes. Then sit and eat them hot.
    OR..Cook them fully today, (boil for 13 minutes), chill, and plan to eat cool lobster with hot butter, which is also a treat! Just my two cents...
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • mkc
    mkc Posts: 544
    Options
    jeffinsgf wrote:
    We found a courtbouillon recipe the last time we made lobster. It was sublime, so I think we'll do that again. The cooking liquid, further reduced with the shells after cleaning, made the base for a killer gumbo.

    DO please post the courtbouillon and gumbo recipes!
    Egging in Crossville, TN
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • fishlessman
    fishlessman Posts: 32,749
    Options
    or make a nice lobster roll, if you cant get split tops a nice toasted buttery croissant works good. ive never heated a par boiled lobster before, will have to try that sometime, good tip, i do the parboil when making bisque/stew and lobster chili though works really good compared to using fully cooked lobster meat
    fukahwee maine

    you can lead a fish to water but you can not make him drink it
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • jeffinsgf
    jeffinsgf Posts: 1,259
    Options
    Thanks, LC. Nancy will parboil tonight.
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • crghc98
    crghc98 Posts: 1,006
    Options
    who knew...and I'm New England born and bred...

    I guess we just eat them too fast in my house....
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • jeffinsgf
    jeffinsgf Posts: 1,259
    Options
    I can tell you, I sure hate it that things have worked out the way they did. I'd like to eat them fast, too. :woohoo:
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Categories