FRESH LOBSTER LANDED DAILY
For all their la-di-dah and opulence, lobsters are thugs. They love nothing more than a fight. Put two lobsters in a tank together and before you can dig out your bib and claw crackers one will have torn the other limb from limb.
With big strong arms, these pre-historic brutes are the Brixham pub brawler of the sea.
Biologically they’re basically immortal. At a certain size, a lobster has no predators (besides other lobsters!), their only real threat is growing so monstrously big that their hard shell casing is no longer able to contain them. At such an age and size, building a new shell requires a considerable amount of energy, so instead the lobster bursts its seams and dies.
At Rockfish, we love lobsters. For all their thuggishness when alive, they’re delicate and delicious when cooked. They are an international symbol of good times, able to elevate any meal into pure celebration.
LOBSTER, FOOD FOR THE POOR
It’s surprising, but lobsters have not always held the gravitas and glamour that they do today. In fact, they used to be referred to as the ‘cockroaches of the sea’. While, in the Victorian times calling someone a lobster was seen as a vile insult.
On the east coast shores of the US in states like New England and Maine, home to perhaps the world’s most famous lobster fisheries, lobsters were once regarded as “poor man’s chicken”.
In the 1700s lobsters were so plentiful that they used to wash ashore on Massachusetts beaches in piles up to 2 feet high. These piles would be gathered and used as fertilizer on fields, or the lobsters would be boiled and fed to prisoners or slaves.
Local New England lore tells a tale of a prison uprising in the Massachusetts county jail, where an organised riot took hold, prisoners demanded a law to be passed preventing them from being fed lobster any more than three times per week. In truth, there’s actually no evidence of such a bill ever taking place, but the story has been passed on for hundreds of years as a testament to just how despised these delicious creatures were.
CATCHING A LOBSTER
The oceans of the earth abound with lobsters. Lobsters with claws like hair combs sift mud in offshore trenches. Clawless lobsters with antennae-like spikes migrate in clans in the Caribbean and the South Pacific. Flattened lobsters with heads like shovels scurry and burrow in the Mediterranean and the Galapagos. The eccentric diversity of the world's lobsters has earned them some of the most whimsical names in the animal kingdom. There are hunchback locust lobsters, regal slipper lobsters, marbled mitten lobsters and musical furry lobsters.
The lobster you’ll find served on our Daily Landing’s Menu here at Rockfish are European lobsters. These are blue when in the water but turn red when boiled as the pigment in their shell is totally destroyed. The range of the European lobster goes as far north as the ice sheets of the Arctic Ocean, right down the bath-like shores of the Med.
The European lobster, also known as the Common lobster, or Native lobster, has a segmented body, eight legs, long antennae and prominent eyes. The two claws of the lobster are large and powerful, capable of crushing a human finger into two pieces. Researchers have shown that the Common lobster can exert pressure of up to 100 pounds per square inch with just one claw.
By the 1900s fishermen had developed a technique for catching lobsters commercially using a type of net hanging from an iron hoop and shaped like a cauldron – one origin of the term “pot”.
Today, lobsters are caught similarly to crabs, using parlour pots and super stinky baits – usually some fish heads left in the sun to go putrid. Lobsters are more easily seduced by rank pungent parcels of fish guts and heads than they are by nice fresh-killed fish. There's something about rotting fish a lobster just can't resist - we did mention they were brutes right?
EATING A LOBSTER AT HOME
Lobster Thermidor, Lobster Caldereta, Lobster Rolls, there are a million and one ways to enjoy this glorious species.
If you’re lucky enough to have access to live lobsters at home, cooking is ridiculously simple. All you’ll need is a pot of boiling water and a knife. If your lobster is alive before cooking, it is recommended that it is humanely dispatched before being placed in the boiling hot pan.
To do this is simple:
1. Chill the Lobster: Place the lobster in the freezer for 15-20 minutes to numb it. This reduces movement and stress.
2. Prepare the Knife: Use a sharp, heavy chef's knife for a clean cut.
3. Position the Lobster: Lay the lobster on its back on a stable cutting board.
4. Locate the Cross: Identify the cross mark on the lobster's head, where the shell forms a "T".
5. Make the Cut: Quickly and firmly insert the knife tip into the centre of the cross mark and bring the knife down between the eyes. This will sever the lobster's central nervous system and dispatch it instantly.
COOKING A LOBSTER
To cook place the lobster in your hot pot, add salt and boil. It’s a common mistake by chefs to overcook a lobster when boiling, as this makes the meat very firm and dry out. Instead, when lobsters are boiled the aim is really only to try and poach the flesh lightly. Two to four minutes boiling is ample time to achieve this, without damaging the flesh.
If boiling lobsters seems too much faff, we sell the pre-boiled lobster on our Online Seafood Market, our home seafood delivery service.
DE-SHELLING A LOBSTER
Once the lobster is boiled the fun really starts, shelling a lobster is somewhat like a childhood game of operation. If you know all the right components and tricks, it’s totally easy.
1. Cool the Lobster: Allow the boiled lobster to cool slightly or rinse under cold water to handle it easily.
2. Twist off the Claws: Firmly twist and pull off both claws at the joints.
3. Remove the Claw Meat: Crack open the claws with a lobster cracker or a nutcracker. Extract the meat with a lobster
4. Separate the Tail: Bend the tail backwards and twist it off the body.
5. Extract the Tail Meat: Press the sides of the tail inwards to crack the shell, then pull apart and remove the meat in one piece.
6. Remove the Legs: Twist off the legs and use a rolling pin to push the meat out.
7. Extract the Body Meat: Break open the body shell to access the small pieces of meat inside.
For all their la-di-dah and opulence, lobsters are thugs. They love nothing more than a fight. Put two lobsters in a tank together and before you can dig out your bib and claw crackers one will have torn the other limb from limb.
With big strong arms, these pre-historic brutes are the Brixham pub brawler of the sea.
Biologically they’re basically immortal. At a certain size, a lobster has no predators (besides other lobsters!), their only real threat is growing so monstrously big that their hard shell casing is no longer able to contain them. At such an age and size, building a new shell requires a considerable amount of energy, so instead the lobster bursts its seams and dies.
At Rockfish, we love lobsters. For all their thuggishness when alive, they’re delicate and delicious when cooked. They are an international symbol of good times, able to elevate any meal into pure celebration.
LOBSTER, FOOD FOR THE POOR
It’s surprising, but lobsters have not always held the gravitas and glamour that they do today. In fact, they used to be referred to as the ‘cockroaches of the sea’. While, in the Victorian times calling someone a lobster was seen as a vile insult.
On the east coast shores of the US in states like New England and Maine, home to perhaps the world’s most famous lobster fisheries, lobsters were once regarded as “poor man’s chicken”.
In the 1700s lobsters were so plentiful that they used to wash ashore on Massachusetts beaches in piles up to 2 feet high. These piles would be gathered and used as fertilizer on fields, or the lobsters would be boiled and fed to prisoners or slaves.
Local New England lore tells a tale of a prison uprising in the Massachusetts county jail, where an organised riot took hold, prisoners demanded a law to be passed preventing them from being fed lobster any more than three times per week. In truth, there’s actually no evidence of such a bill ever taking place, but the story has been passed on for hundreds of years as a testament to just how despised these delicious creatures were.
CATCHING A LOBSTER
The oceans of the earth abound with lobsters. Lobsters with claws like hair combs sift mud in offshore trenches. Clawless lobsters with antennae-like spikes migrate in clans in the Caribbean and the South Pacific. Flattened lobsters with heads like shovels scurry and burrow in the Mediterranean and the Galapagos. The eccentric diversity of the world's lobsters has earned them some of the most whimsical names in the animal kingdom. There are hunchback locust lobsters, regal slipper lobsters, marbled mitten lobsters and musical furry lobsters.
The lobster you’ll find served on our Daily Landing’s Menu here at Rockfish are European lobsters. These are blue when in the water but turn red when boiled as the pigment in their shell is totally destroyed. The range of the European lobster goes as far north as the ice sheets of the Arctic Ocean, right down the bath-like shores of the Med.
The European lobster, also known as the Common lobster, or Native lobster, has a segmented body, eight legs, long antennae and prominent eyes. The two claws of the lobster are large and powerful, capable of crushing a human finger into two pieces. Researchers have shown that the Common lobster can exert pressure of up to 100 pounds per square inch with just one claw.
By the 1900s fishermen had developed a technique for catching lobsters commercially using a type of net hanging from an iron hoop and shaped like a cauldron – one origin of the term “pot”.
Today, lobsters are caught similarly to crabs, using parlour pots and super stinky baits – usually some fish heads left in the sun to go putrid. Lobsters are more easily seduced by rank pungent parcels of fish guts and heads than they are by nice fresh-killed fish. There's something about rotting fish a lobster just can't resist - we did mention they were brutes right?
EATING A LOBSTER AT HOME
Lobster Thermidor, Lobster Caldereta, Lobster Rolls, there are a million and one ways to enjoy this glorious species.
If you’re lucky enough to have access to live lobsters at home, cooking is ridiculously simple. All you’ll need is a pot of boiling water and a knife. If your lobster is alive before cooking, it is recommended that it is humanely dispatched before being placed in the boiling hot pan.
To do this is simple:
1. Chill the Lobster: Place the lobster in the freezer for 15-20 minutes to numb it. This reduces movement and stress.
2. Prepare the Knife: Use a sharp, heavy chef's knife for a clean cut.
3. Position the Lobster: Lay the lobster on its back on a stable cutting board.
4. Locate the Cross: Identify the cross mark on the lobster's head, where the shell forms a "T".
5. Make the Cut: Quickly and firmly insert the knife tip into the centre of the cross mark and bring the knife down between the eyes. This will sever the lobster's central nervous system and dispatch it instantly.
COOKING A LOBSTER
To cook place the lobster in your hot pot, add salt and boil. It’s a common mistake by chefs to overcook a lobster when boiling, as this makes the meat very firm and dry out. Instead, when lobsters are boiled the aim is really only to try and poach the flesh lightly. Two to four minutes boiling is ample time to achieve this, without damaging the flesh.
If boiling lobsters seems too much faff, we sell the pre-boiled lobster on our Online Seafood Market, our home seafood delivery service.
DE-SHELLING A LOBSTER
Once the lobster is boiled the fun really starts, shelling a lobster is somewhat like a childhood game of operation. If you know all the right components and tricks, it’s totally easy.
1. Cool the Lobster: Allow the boiled lobster to cool slightly or rinse under cold water to handle it easily.
2. Twist off the Claws: Firmly twist and pull off both claws at the joints.
3. Remove the Claw Meat: Crack open the claws with a lobster cracker or a nutcracker. Extract the meat with a lobster
4. Separate the Tail: Bend the tail backwards and twist it off the body.
5. Extract the Tail Meat: Press the sides of the tail inwards to crack the shell, then pull apart and remove the meat in one piece.
6. Remove the Legs: Twist off the legs and use a rolling pin to push the meat out.
7. Extract the Body Meat: Break open the body shell to access the small pieces of meat inside.
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