Lobster

Five Islands Lobster Co. (Woolwich, Maine)

Where the Lobsters Come From

Lobster at the Beginning

Lobster in Progress

Why I thought it would be gross: I’ve told myself I don’t like seafood, because water seems dirty and these things live in it, and one time when I was young I bit into a bone in a fish stick and decided there would be no more fish after that. And specifically to lobster, the thing looks like an alien.

Ingredients: Outer shell, which you crack to get to tender meat on the inside.

Character: Lobster meat tastes a bit salty and chewy. It has the texture of a chicken tender/breast, in simple food terms.

What I thought: Eating a lobster is kind of an ordeal, but I took it on because I was in the right place to give it a try. I went to Maine for the weekend and found a lobster shack right on a bay, based on a recommendation from a local friend. Additionally, this same friend took my husband and I to the restaurant and served as our guide for what to eat and how to eat it. And the lobsters came directly out of the water we were sitting along, so I felt pretty safe about the source of the food.

So, upon a recommendation, I ordered a small lobster (about a pound, and alive when I ordered it), coleslaw, and steamed red potatoes. This is a pretty typical combination. I got some good instruction on how to crack and eat the main parts of the lobster (I didn’t involve myself with the bowels of the lobster, which some people do – there’s a thing called “tomalley” which I won’t get in to, but I wasn’t going to eat it).

First, I snapped the claws apart (like a chicken wing) and then cracked the claws with a cracker and pulled the meat out in one big piece. It was pretty easy to eat, and when I dipped it in the melted butter that we had, it ended up being savory and salty. The texture was springy and tender, thanks to on-the-spot steaming that had happened. (I’ve since had lobster again that was much firmer and pretty unappealing, so it matters how it’s prepared and where you get it).

After the claws, I moved on to the tail, which involves separating the tail from the body, then crunching the shell between your hands and peeling the shell back away from itself while looking at the “underbelly” portion. On the inside of this mess is very clean, solid meat which you can get out pretty easily. The texture of this part was more like a giant shrimp or a chicken breast - chewier for sure. As I said, I only ate these three parts (two claws, one tail), and didn’t bother with the rest. But, I’ve talked with people who consider different parts of the lobster delicacies, so they’d probably be good to try, too.

Overall, I’m glad I tried it. I’m not wild about it, but it certainly was a good dinner. It’s expensive, so I’m not sure if I’d pay a lot of money to get something I’m so-so about. But I can see why people do.

Resources:

http://www.lobsterfrommaine.com/ The official website of the Maine Lobster Council - Find Lobsters, recipes, cooking tips and more.

http://www.gma.org/lobsters/eatingetc.html Great instructions on how to eat a Lobster and what’s what.