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Lobster, yumm....

W

W. Hilditch

Active member
Although pricey, lobster dinners out can be disappointing or worse, so here is a good way to cook your own.

Start a fire with your favorite wood 1 to 2 hours before cooking time. I used applewood and hickory.

For two, steal or mortgage your way into a 22 oz. New Zealand cold water rock lobster tail. After thawing cut down the center of the back with kitchen shears and then cut the rest of the way in half with a chef knife. Meat side up, coat both halves liberally with olive oil and sprinkle with Old Bay Seasoning.

Get your CI grate HOT. Set it on the coals if necessary. A little more oil and place the lobster meat side down and cook for 4 to 5 minutes. Turn. A smaller tail may be done at this point. Check the temp with an instant read thermometer in the thickest meat. Forget what your cookbook and the internet say, when the temp is 125° get it off the heat immediately! At 130° it starts to get dry. If you want 140° & up, go out to eat. Finish with a sprinkle of Fleur de Sel.

This tail was so flavorful, tender and sweet we quit using the drawn butter after the third bite, and the second bite was without the butter. The first bite is with the eyes. Texture like a prime tenderloin steak.









Hilditch
 
I just showed your last picture to my interested cat that sitting on my lap and said if you could smell that I'd have teeth marks in my phone :) I could taste it looking at it!

My hats off to you, well done! Now I'm off to the kitchen to see what I can dig up.
 
Grew up in Newfoundland, ate more lobster than I care to speak of. Never grilled over open fire tho.

Now an Alberta Black Angus T-bone. That's yummm...
 
Rob, I’ve been thinking about your last post here. I think I understand you burning out on N. Atlantic lobster. I did also and decided king crab was better.

I would like to say that New Zealand lobster tails are not the same as the N. Atlantic tails. It is like comparing Grandma’s Waffle recipe here to Eggo’s. Or Canadian grade A beef to venison.

Lastly, the NZ tails do not deserve to be steamed or boiled. Baking and broiling or grilling brings out the best in them. Might be worth a try if they are even available in Canada. This one fit in a 10 SK with a domed lid for a bake/broil.



Hilditch
 
It just came to me: An overcooked lobster tail, or really any seafood, and a well done beef steak have a lot in common. Seafood and steaks stay as juicy and tender as they can be up to 125° F internal temperature.

It starts with sushi and tartare and gets drier & tougher from there.

Hilditch
 
I hear you on overcooking. I've had lobster from all around the world, caribbean tails, pacific. Just not my thing anymore. Impossible to get fresh fish around here, and most of it is farmed anyway - can't stomach it. Most people I know still don't know how to properly cook fish.

I grew up in Newfoundland where fresh seafood was abundant. We would buy lobsters cheap from fishermen, pick live mussels fresh from the rocks in the Atlantic ocean, dig up saltwater clams and have a big old boil up on the beach over a few beers. Life was good. I'll cook them up for others, in any which way they want but i'll do myself a steak.

Now steak, that's another bone to pick. Didn't know what a steak was supposed to taste like til I came to western Canada. Growing up, everything BBQ'd was sauced with something or other. Learned that a black or red angus done to medium with nothing on it was the way to go. I don't even want salt or pepper on my meat anymore.


And to add, I didn't know what real BBQ was til I spent some time in Lenexa, Kansas. Wow and oh my, the stuff dreams are made of and I still crave it. Americans do know BBQ.
 
You sound like a steak lover. Now if you'll work your way down to med-rare I believe you will like it even better. PS: Fleur de Sel wakes up all your taste buds which never hurt any steak cooked right. Just a sprinkle.

Glad you found some good BBQ in Lenexa. There is some great BBQ in North Georgia also but the big difference to me is that I don't have to stand in line for 1 1/2 hours to get some like in Lenexa. A few good places here roast their pork butts overnight low and slow with some hickory wood or a brisket almost as long. Not all BBQ down here is created equal.

Hilditch
 
Yep, i'm a meat lover. Managed to get into some Oklahoma Joe's and Arthur Bryant's while I was there. I'd be 500 pounds in no time if I lived there, huge portions compared to what you get here. I swear Bryant's sandwich consisted of 2 little pieces of bread and 2 pounds of meat - but the smell, oh the smell of BBQ - it stopped me in the doorway.

I still enjoy seafood, but being landlocked, fresh is impossible. Fish shops here claim "fresh fish" and most don't know the difference. People don't realize that fresh fish really has no smell to it - if it smells fishy, it's not fresh.

GF is liking fish now that i'm cooking it, cast on high heat, bit of special dry rub for seasoning. One flip and all good.
 
Took a fancy boat trip around the inland waterways in Maine about two years ago. The captain's special meal was fresh lobster cooked on an open fire on a rocky beach. He bought a bushel in the morning and we had them that night. The way he did it was a big drift wood fire, then smothered it in damp sea weed. By the time the weed was dry enough to catch fire the lobsters were steamed and done. The last ones off were getting over done. They were OK, but the beach and the sunset made the whole event a "wow".
...So I was thinking your lobster might have tasted even better by the awesome cooking fire than on the fancy table cloth. Maybe....
 
Thanks for the thinking. Tough call David. I thought maybe yes and then after discussing it with my SO we decided different, but not better. A lobster bake or a seafood boil on the beach sure is a wonderful culinary experience enhanced by the surroundings. Relaxed and casual where the food becomes part of the experience.

In certain cases with special high end meals the food and its presentation is the experience. In that case the comfort of diner, lack of distractions and a pleasant classy setting allow for concentration on the food and drink. The table also comes in handy for holding things like the butter warmer and your drink, not to mention the plate. The whole scene is way different from sitting on a rock and balancing a plate on your knees.

Our conclusion is that the tails above would not have been better. If you were choosing a setting to have a special dinner ($100+ a plate and up) would you choose to have it on the beach or at a nice table?

Hilditch
 
Making due. This New Zealand guy wouldn’t fit in my SK 10 so he went into the 14 SK. The issue was no lid for the baking stage. Ended up making a dome from heavy duty aluminum foil and it worked well. It didn’t look it’s best in the skillet so here it is on a 14” platter. Dinner for 2 and lobster rolls in a couple of days too.



Hilditch
 
I knew I shouldn't have clicked on this. Now I won't be able to get the flavor of lobster out of my head.

Well done sir, looks outstanding. :icon_thumbsup:

Steve,
 
Reminds me of the time I went scuba diving out of Islamorada with some Cubans who worked for a friend of mine in Miami. We ended up with about six lobster tails and ate them within two hours after bringing them up. Best lobster I ever had.
 
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