Ultimate Cook Book_ 900 New Recipes, Thousands of Ideas - Bruce Weinstein [241]
To grill:
Stopper the sink and fill it halfway with ice water. Preheat a gas grill to high heat or build a high-heat, well-ashed coal bed in a charcoal grill.
While the grill’s heating, select a pot large enough to hold all the lobsters and plenty of water. Bring 2 to 3 gallons of water to a boil in the pot over high heat.
Slip the lobsters in headfirst; cook just until they stop moving, about 2 minutes. Remove them with tongs and plunge them into the ice water. Cool for 5 minutes, then drain on paper towels.
Place a lobster belly side down on a large cutting board. With the sharp edge facing the lobster’s eyes, pierce the shell behind the head with a heavy knife. Pull the knife back and slice through the head. Remove the knife, turn the lobster around, and slice back from the same point to the end of the tail. Repeat with the other 3 lobsters.
Generously oil the grill grate with canola oil and set it 4 to 6 inches over the heat. Place the lobster halves cut side down directly over the heat. Cover and cook for 2 minutes. Use tongs to turn them all cut side up; brush the meat generously with about half the Vanilla Butter. Cover and continue grilling until the meat is opaque and somewhat firm, about 5 minutes for 1¼-pound lobsters, 6 minutes for 1½-pound lobsters, and 8 minutes for 2-pounders. Serve with additional Vanilla Butter on the side.
To bake:
Position the rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 425°F.
Complete steps 2–4 for grilling lobsters.
Snap off the large claws just where they join the body. Repeat with the other 3 lobsters.
Take a large sheet of aluminum foil and gently crumple it into ridges; its ridges will help the uneven lobster halves sit flat on the baking sheet. Place the foil on the baking sheet; set the claws on it, toward the edges. Bake for 6 minutes. Meanwhile, clean some of the brown material out of the thorax, or body cavity. Brush the exposed meat in the tail with a little of the Vanilla Butter.
Place the lobster bodies cut side down on the aluminum sheet, spacing them apart and setting them among the hillocks until they sit flat. Continue roasting until the meat is opaque and somewhat firm, about 7 minutes for 1¼-pound lobsters, 9 minutes for 1½-pound lobsters, and 12 minutes for 2-pounders. Serve with the remaining Vanilla Butter on the side.
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Lobsters
Lobsters must be alive when they’re cooked. Buy them only at markets where they’re kept in a visible tank. When a lobster is picked up, the tail should flap. Do not buy the lobster if it falls limp or if the thorax (the body cavity) has foam coming out of the cracks.
When you get the lobsters home, store them in the packs provided by the market or unwrap the packaging and wrap them loosely but individually in several sheets of dampened newspaper.
Some people prefer to kill a lobster before boiling it. To do so, plunge a knife into a lobster’s head, right between the eyes, thereby slicing its brain in half and killing the animal instantly. However, it will leak some juices as it’s cooked and the meat can end up waterlogged.
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How to Eat a Lobster
If the body is whole, twist the tail off the thorax (the main part of the body). Set the tail aside and turn the thorax belly side up. Twist off the large claws, leaving the knuckle joints attached to the claws. Crack open the knuckle joints one by one with a nutcracker, lobster cracker, or heavy mallet; remove the meat from each knuckle. Crack open the claws; wiggle the small part of the pincher free and pull out the meat in the claw. Slit the tail along the soft underside, then remove the meat inside. Slice the tail meat into chunks. Depending on the size of the lobster, the back tail fins may or may not have meat in them. Pull off each of the smaller legs and chew the shoulder meat out of their ends. If desired, tear open the smaller legs