HOW TO HOST YOUR OWN LOBSTER FEST

In our opinion, this is the PERFECT summer meal to share with your favourite people in the world and we are extremely excited to share our tips and tricks for how to boil lobster and host the best LOBSTER FEST EVER!

With COVID cancelling the Lobster Fest in your city for the foreseeable future, warm, long summer nights to enjoy el fresco dining and Canada Day and Fourth of July approaching, now is the perfect time to host a lobster fest in the comfort of your own homes, no matter what the reason!

We were lucky enough to enjoy this meal as our first meal together after three months of social distancing, so it feels extra special and we are so excited to share it with you! It’s not very often that we don’t share a meal together at least a few times a month, if not every week so this was a big deal for us and we don’t think anyone stopped smiling all night.

Cooking lobster can be quite intimidating, so we are here to walk you through the entire storing, cooking and serving process.

* Note: There are many ways to cook lobster, and probably just as many ways to eat them but we prefer to boil lobster and believe this is the best for beginners!

STORING TIPS

Here’s a funny story for you!

When our parents owned the fish market, they would get calls (too often) from people after purchasing lobster, explaining that when they went to cook them, all of them had died! So, our parents would ask exactly what they had done after purchasing, and many times, the customers would explain how they filled either a bathtub, sink, or bowl with water and kept the lobsters in there for storing. Lobster + water = life. Right? Well, not quite… Lobsters live in SALT water, therefore submerging lobsters in fresh water will kill them. Many of you will be thinking, “duh” how could someone not know that? But you’d be very surprised how often this occurred, which is exactly why we thought it would be a good idea to add this (very) important detail to this post. 

With that being said, when you purchase your lobsters here are some pointers for storing them prior to cooking:

• If the store you purchase them from gives them to you in a bag, make sure when you get home you immediately put the lobsters into a separate container, pot, bowl or something deep and big enough to fit all of them!
• Once transferred to a better container, place damp paper towels or damp newspaper over the lobsters.
• Add ice packs on top of the paper. Don’t use single ice cubes, as you don’t want them melting to the bottom of the container (you can put ice cubes in a sealed bag instead).
• DO NOT PUT A LID OVER THEM!! Remember, they are live, and you want them to stay that way… aka… they need to be able to breath.
• Store in a COOL place! If you have room in your fridge, keep the container in there. But if you have a lot of lobsters, with not enough fridge space, you can always keep them in the coolest part of your basement.
• We highly recommend buying the live lobsters the same day that you are cooking them.

COOKING TIPS

Before you put the lobsters into the pot, a tip to make this step a bit physically and emotionally easier for you is to put the lobsters to sleep before doing so. To do this, you put them onto their heads and rub their back until they stop moving. This will make it easier to put them into the pot. 

Before you start cooking:

• Get a large pot with cold water in it, and add lots of ice and lots of salt (taste to make sure it’s as salty as the sea!) to create an ice bath. You can also use your sink if you are cooking inside.
• Get a platter to put the cooked lobster on.
• Take the rubber bands off the lobster claws -be careful, you do NOT want to get pinched!

Cooking – how to boil lobster:

1. Fill a large stockpot with enough water to cover 3/4 of the lobster. Salt the water heavily, so it tastes like the sea and bring to a rolling boil. 
2. Carefully place your lobster into the pot, and slowly lower them head first and on their back. Try to ensure 3/4 of the lobster is covered.
3. Cover the pot and bring the water back to a rolling boil.
4. Once boiling, set your timer for 5-6 minutes. After 3-4 minutes, flip the lobster for the final 2-3 minutes of cooking.
5. Take lobsters out with tongs and immediately, place into the ice bath to cool them down and stop the cooking process. Leave in for approximately 3 minutes and place on platter.
6. Bring water to a boil again, and repeat steps 1-5 for the rest of your lobsters. 

You do not need to serve lobster hot, therefore you don’t have to rush the cooking process. If you are serving a large group of people, it’s okay to only cook a couple at a time, and let them sit for however long it takes to properly cook the rest. We think eating it on the cooler side brings out the flavours even more! Plus the hot lemon butter will warm it up! We recommend only cooking three lobsters at once, at the MOST (dependant on the size of your stockpot). 

After you are done cooking, and you are cutting open the lobsters, you may notice black residue inside the lobster tails and at the end of the bodies. This is totally okay and normal – it happens because it’s a female and the eggs may not fully cook, resulting in the black colour. Just simply scrape it out.

Cutting:

1. Pull the claws and legs off.
2. Break apart the tail from the body.
3. Use a butcher knife (careful with this step!) to cut the shell side of the tail and butterfly it so that it opens up. If you aren’t comfortable cutting through the hard shell, turn the tail over and use a good pair of scissors to cut down the middle and then pry open to get to the meat.
4. Use crackers for the claws. If the claws are very large, put a towel over them and use a hammer to crack them.

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SERVING TIPS

The next tip for you lobster lovers is an important one. In order to eat lobster properly, you need to be prepared to get messy and embrace it! Lobster juice and the lemon butter will be all over the table by the end of the dinner, this is our warning to NOT use your favourite table cloth or cloth napkins. The last thing you will want to do is worry about the cleanup instead of enjoying your meal. 

Side note: Don’t forget to serve the little legs! Many people don’t eat the legs but they are our favourite at the end of the meal. Twist and removed them from each body to serve. To eat them, bite down on the ends to loosen the bits of meat and juice inside and suck it all out. It may sound weird, but no one is judging you at a lobster fest.

What you will need for serving:

• Big bowls spread around the table to dispose of the shells, legs and claws.
• Crackers and seafood forks to make sure you get every last bit of the lobster. NOTHING goes wasted.
• Butter warmers for that decadent lemon butter.
• Good scissors just incase you cant get a stubborn shell off.
• Lobster bibs, disposable paper tablecloth and disposable napkins – it will get MESSY!

The lemon butter:

A KEY component to a lobster fest.

• Melt 2 tbsp of butter in each butter warmer – usually one warmer will serve 2 people.
• Add the juice from about 1 slice of lemon (or to taste) to the warmer and mix together.
• Turn on the butter warmer about 5 minutes before you’re ready to serve.

We served the lobster with our homemade caesar salad, a fresh baguette and tomatoes with a basil vinaigrette. PERFECTION!

Although lobster is one of our top FAVOURITE meals, for us, this dinner is truly about the people surrounding you. It’s such a fun, messy meal and we hope you get to enjoy with special people in your lives.

We hope this post was helpful! Don’t be afraid to try! Let us know if you have any further questions, we’re always a comment, email or DM away!

Skål,

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