Lobster is a seafood delicacy that everyone should try at least once. Once it comes to the table, it's up to you to figure out how to eat this crustacean. Since lobsters usually come served still inside their hard shell, it can be daunting to try and figure out how to eat it. This handy guide on how to eat a lobster should help.
What You'll Need
Eating a lobster requires more specialized equipment than a conventional knife and fork. For this experience, you'll need:
Eating lobsters is messy. The bib is there to protect your clothing while you crack open and eat the lobster. Even if you're a neat eater, you'll appreciate the bib. Lobsters contain a lot of water, and as you work at the lobster, you're bound to get splattered at least a little, so it's worth it to wear the bib to avoid stains.
The cracker is a special tool called a lobster cracker. It looks and works a lot like a pair of household pliers. If you can use pliers, you can use a lobster cracker.
The picker looks like something your dentist would use. The lobster picker is there to get meat out of tiny crevices inside the lobster. You'll be glad to have it, especially when trying to get at the claw meat.
How to Eat It
Start with the tail of the lobster. Grab the tail with one hand and the body of the lobster with the other hand and twist until the tail breaks off. You'll see a big chunk of white meat inside the tail, which you can usually squeeze out with your finger. This is the easiest meat to remove from the lobster. The rest is a bit harder to get at.
Next, use your cracker to crack the claws of the lobster. There will be a narrow strip of meat in each claw, which you can use the picker to pull out. The shells on either side of the joints will also hold a small morsel of tender meat, which you'll also need to pull out with your picker.
Finally, it's time to attack the body and legs of the lobster. Snap off the legs from the lobster and use the picker to remove the meat inside. Alternately, you can suck out the meat. Now, hold the body vertically in both hands and split it in two to pick out the white meat you find above where the legs were attached.
Eating a lobster is a time consuming ritual that is best when enjoyed at a fine seafood restaurant with friends. Be prepared to be patient, but the wait is well worth it.
Share19 January 2017
As soon as I started traveling a lot for work, I realized that I was going to be eating out--a lot. Instead of just visiting the same old fast-food restaurants that I had grown up with, I decided that it would be great to explore exciting new restaurants. I started small, by going to little places that had earned high ratings, and then I worked my way up to some of the more fancy establishments in the area. It was really great to see what I was able to find, and I was super pleased to explore so many new kinds of foods. Check out this blog for tips on enjoying new restaurants.
