Cooking For Engineers Forum Index Cooking For Engineers
Analytical cooking discussed.
 
 FAQFAQ   SearchSearch   MemberlistMemberlist   UsergroupsUsergroups   RegisterRegister 
 ProfileProfile   Log in to check your private messagesLog in to check your private messages   Log inLog in 

boiling lobsters - covered or open?

 
Post new topic   Reply to topic    Cooking For Engineers Forum Index -> Recipes
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
pbone



Joined: 05 Jan 2008
Posts: 99
Location: Dutchess County, NYS

PostPosted: Sun Apr 01, 2012 4:09 am    Post subject: boiling lobsters - covered or open? Reply with quote

This is a good one for y'all))). What is the difference if you:

1.Plunge live lobsters into boiling water and pop a top on immediately and leave the burner on high and when the water boils again (with the lobstas in it) turn the heat down to moderate-low, leave the cover on. After 20 minutes, the lobstas are done. Or...

2. Plunge live lobstas into boiling water and pop a top on immediately BUT as soon as the water comes to a boil, remove the cover. Cook 20 minutes, the lobstas are done.

My own feeling is that something like Chinese treatment for "particular chicken", a kind of poaching with the top on and the heat off after bringing chicken and water to a boil. leave it covered for 1 hour, bring it to another boil, leave the cover on, turn the heat off for another hour. But I might just do the lobster for one hour, i.e., not repeat process.

What difference does leaving the top on (retaining steam at the top of the boiling water) or taking it off make?
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
KennethBoehm



Joined: 03 Apr 2012
Posts: 1
Location: Lake Village, IN

PostPosted: Tue Apr 03, 2012 5:57 am    Post subject: Recipe for lobster and meat Reply with quote

I am looking for a recipe which has lobster and meat as the main ingredients. Is this possible? Thanks!
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
pbone



Joined: 05 Jan 2008
Posts: 99
Location: Dutchess County, NYS

PostPosted: Tue Apr 03, 2012 10:01 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Get a McDonald's double cheeseburger for $1.29. Open it and pile on some lobster meat and a swipe of mayo on the bun. Viola! Poor man's surf and turf.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Dilbert



Joined: 19 Oct 2007
Posts: 1304
Location: central PA

PostPosted: Tue Apr 03, 2012 10:37 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

the advice I've seen on timing for live lobsters is typically X minutes plus Y minutes per pound. don't have my cook books handy but I can look it up later.

putting a lid on would have the effect of the water coming back up to a boil faster. how that affects the overall timing,,, don't know.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
pbone



Joined: 05 Jan 2008
Posts: 99
Location: Dutchess County, NYS

PostPosted: Tue Apr 03, 2012 10:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Speaking from an engineer's pov, do you agree that lobster should be brought to a boil, then very gently poached for the remainder of the cooking time? Like the Chinese deal with "particular chicken"? Some pundits say the lobster is done when it turns bright red...but that often happens after only 5 or 10 minutes...almost immediately on the return to boil.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
GaryProtein



Joined: 26 Oct 2005
Posts: 535

PostPosted: Wed Apr 04, 2012 12:17 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'm basically in agreement with Dilbert. I use a super sized pot with a steamer basket and get the seasoned water fiercely boiling, drop in the lobsters for about eight to ten minutes per pound each lobster weighs. Typically, if we're doing lobster at home, we do three to three and half pounders (I admit it, we're pigs and it's a food orgy!) and I'll put four of them in each pot. I use one of the King Kooker dual burner camp stoves that have a high pressure regulator to really boost the BTUs. After 25 steaming minutes, they are done. I definitely prefer steaming to boiling because you don't end up with a water soaked lobster. Since I'm steaming them, the pot is always covered.

We usually eat on the patio because we place refuse pails around the table on the patio so everyone can just drop their shells into them and not take up table space. Plus, it's easy to hose down the patio afterward.

See this link for cooking times using various methods. http://www.lobsterhelp.com/cooking-lobster.html


Last edited by GaryProtein on Wed Apr 04, 2012 2:36 am; edited 1 time in total
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
pbone



Joined: 05 Jan 2008
Posts: 99
Location: Dutchess County, NYS

PostPosted: Wed Apr 04, 2012 12:43 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Helas, although I, too, am a complete pig when it comes to lobsta, I've only got access to 1 lb live lobstas locally in Dutchess Cty NY. And I don't have any source of regulatable heat other than the top of my very basic gas stove. (my grill just uses charcoal. It's an ancient Weber, I think. ) So the volume of water to boil is an issue, for sure. As to steaming v boiling, if you just poach gently, you don't get a dried out or watered down lobsta. Then again, if you steam (I could do that on top of my gas stove) my impression is that steaming really dries them out more than poaching. I'm not confident of that, however. I should reveal that I used to be a stern man on a lobsta boat in Maine - one time we actually caught a huge 30 lb lobsta, but while I knew it would be delicious (from eating a 20 lb w/family in Cape May NJ), we had to throw it back, by law. I somehow always get it right boiling lobstas, but this is an intellectual effort to determine some basics, ala engineers! I can see the advantages of steaming...still, can't make up my mind. Thank you both for your input, and anybody else's (encouraged!)
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Dilbert



Joined: 19 Oct 2007
Posts: 1304
Location: central PA

PostPosted: Wed Apr 04, 2012 2:27 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

our market(s) only have relatively small (1.5 lb max) live lobster.
I asked why no biggies & the fish monger said the larger lobster have a high mortality rate in the distribution chain that winds up in the supermarket.

I don't bother with the small live ones anymore. I did a lobster dinner for my Mom' birthday one year - no option but from the supermarket . . . being a geeky type I weighed the meat before I plated. it came out to $97.xx per pound. lobster is good; lobster is not that good.

I found a local place that (time to time) has flash frozen Maine tails in the 6-8 ounce range for reasonable money. decent but not the best - I guess it's the freezing bit.

when we lived down nearer Philadelphia there was a place - Suburban Seafood - which was primarily a wholesaler to restaurants, etc., but they would sell to the public. well, back then when you walked in, you sorta' waded through the blood&guts drain down area of the fish prep.....best fish, shellfish anywhere in the area.

they had big big long longer tanks of live lobster sorted by size - you brought your own plastic bag and 3-4 lb live lobsters were $7 each. cash, they didn't even have/use a register or scale.

we'd do lobster a couple times a year. I always did the head first boil routine - that's how I grew up, so that's how we 'et'em. not experienced the waterlogged lobster issue, tho.

I guess I told too many people about the place; they installed a retail front end plus tables & cookery. the prices went viral.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
pbone



Joined: 05 Jan 2008
Posts: 99
Location: Dutchess County, NYS

PostPosted: Wed Apr 04, 2012 3:14 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

lol, tears of sympathy streaming down my cheeks. What is available to me locally are live lobs, between 3/4 and 1.25lbs for about $10/lb. Scrawny, but pretty tastey. When I was up in Maine, working on the boat, I had access to lobs up to about 2.5lbs, maybe a bit more, don't remember the price, but sometimes my boss would soften up and let me have one or two for free. I was told decades ago in Cape May, NJ that the reason the huge ones, like the 20 lb one we as a huge family ate together, were so good is that they were young. They grew huge at a young age because they fed off a never-ending supply of NYC garbage! Whatever! Worked on that occasion. Our 20 lb one was delicious and tender and we just boiled it and...I don't remember much else, except for the serious hammers and other tools we used to crack 'n serve! Bath towels to cover the dining room table. We 10 were all pigs, and there was still plenty of left over...maybe to make the poor man's surf and turf!)))))LOL. I never eat frozen lobster, and have never eaten lobster tails, period. If they aren't flapping madly, I'm just not interested. Cheers, darlings.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Display posts from previous:   
Post new topic   Reply to topic    Cooking For Engineers Forum Index -> Recipes All times are GMT
Page 1 of 1

 
Jump to:  
You can post new topics in this forum
You can reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum


Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group