Q. Is it tough?
A. No. it is tender. you tenderize it by soaking it in lime juice and/or whacking it with something hard like a winch handle or a bottle (the whacking method is way more fun than just passive soaking, of course)
Q. Is it slimy?
A. When you first take it out of the shell, yes. but by the time you cook it and eat it is yummy, and tastes more or less like very tender calamari or clams (in other words, it tastes just as yummy as its more widely available molluscan cousins, if not more so).
Q. How do you get them out of the shell?
A. Trick them with promises of wealth and fame. If that doesn't work, use a screwdriver and a hammer to make a slit about an inch wide between the 2nd and 3rd whorl, which detaches the muscular foot from where it is anchored on the inside of the shell. Then grab their "claw" (I think it is actually an operculum, technically) and pull out the whole critter.
(The third Q/A was for mostly for Katy and Elan's benefit - they will be on a charter boat in Belize next week and may need to know this stuff).
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6 comments:
Shall we add New England lobstah techniques to this molluscan reprise?
E.g.,
1) Roughly 3 minutes per pound in boiling water, less for the little guys and a bit more for the thick-bodied biggies. The "pull the antennae" test is wrong: when the antennae pull off the lobstah is overdone by a factor of at least 0.5 and antenna pulling makes not a whit of distinction between a 1 1/4# baby and a 10# Jabba The Hut.
2) Boil the babies. The "steaming" thing is completely ineffective unless you have a pressure cooker. It's all about Hot Water.
3) Butter.
4) Butter.
5) More Butter.
Rick
And for you non-New Englanders:
Big lobstahs are tough, sinewy, chewy, tasteless lumps of carrion-eating bottom-feeders.
Buy 1 1/4# "chickens" and leave the lumpy 4+ #-ers for us Yankees to make lobstah roll with. You don't want them. Got that?
Big lobstah bad.
Big lobstah bad.
Big lobstah bad.
Ayuh.
Rick
Thanks for the conch instructions!! Can't wait to try it. 23 hours and 22 minutes until vacation!! Does the vacation officially start when you get on the plane , or when your toes first touch sand? When you crack the first ice cold central american beer? Anyway, it's soon
Hugs
K&E
thanks for the lobster info Rick....and yes smaller IS better when it comes to lobsters. in fact I found out that the reason I love Roatan lobsters is they are illegally harvested at a very small size. mmmm, Veal of the Sea.
p.s. hate to be nerd patrol Rick, but lobsters aren't mollusks. they're crustaceans. just for the sake of our scientific integrity here on the ol' blog.
So funny there miss smarty smarty pants, you just couldn't let that slide could you? -Mike
well, you know Rick wouldn't let it slide if it was grammar or cars or history or something like that. so....I'm just doing my civic duty as a daughter in law.
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