One of my New Year’s resolutions on 1st Jan 2006 was to buy a live crab or lobster and cook it. The main reason I’d put it off for so long was that I didn’t think I had a pot big enough to cook one. Despite this not having changed, I decided to go for it anyway and try and keep true to my resolution.

Linda decided to name the lobster Herbert (for what reason I do not know) and despite my niece and nephew imploring me not to cook him for dinner, he was a gonner the minute I picked him at the stall in Borough Mkt.

Herbert was wrapped up nice and tight for the journey home, but it still felt a bit odd knowing I had something alive in my bag. When I got home, I stuck him in the fridge and hoped he wouldn’t help himself to the Christmas leftovers.

I placed a couple of pans with salted water on the boil, including a wok, as I wasn’t sure which he would fit in best. Before boiling him alive, I put him in the freezer for 10 mins, as I’d heard this was a good way to make lobsters ‘sleepy’ and therefore be less aware when put in the boiling water. For some reason, the effect of freezing him sent him a bit mental and he was about 10 times more active than before!

Herbert’s activity didn’t save him, though, and I placed him in the pan to cook for 12 minutes. Once cooked, I ran him under the cold tap in order to stop the cooking process, as the shell retains heat and would continue to cook the flesh if not cooled down.

To get at the meat, I put the knife in the middle of the head and split the lobster in half. I then removed the sac behind the eyes and removed the flesh from the body and tail. The claws were cracked open with the back of a knife and the meat extracted from there, too. The green-ish meat which fills the body cavity can also be eaten, as well as the white meat in the tail, claws and just above the walking legs.

There wasn’t a huge amount of white meat produced, but it is very dense and so was quite filling. I served with some crusty bread, some home made fries and a dollop of mayo.