Conference turris::cooks

>    (I personally can't split the lobster live.  I fill a large pot
>    with water and wait for it to come to a full bubbling boil.  Then
>    put the lobster in head first.  I cook it for about two minutes
>    or until I'm sure it's dead.  

If you want to do it even easier, just put the live lobsters in the 
kitchen sink, and run luke warm tap water into it.  The lobsters can't 
live at even these moderate temperatures, but they don't thrash or give
any other indication that they are having discomfort on the way out. As
the water covers them, they just slowly stop moving.  In a few minutes,
you can haul them out and do whatever. 

    
    
    I just read in a cook book that the best and fastest way to kill
    a lobster is to hold tdhe lobster right side up on a cutting surface.
    Using the tip of a sharp knife, pierce the lobster at the point
    where the tail and body join.  This severs the spinal cord, killing
    the lobster instantly.  The second best is to put them head first
    into a pot of **boiling** water as fast as you can so they won't
    suffer.  I certainly wouldn't want a slow painful death like
    suffocate in lukewarm water.
    
    Hugs,
    Fran

   The dilemma of how to eat any kind of meat/poultry/fish without
   feeling barbaric seems to be running rampant in today's society.
   Any reminder that your dinner was one 'on the hoof' (or 'on the
   pedal extremity' if you prefer) is considered distasteful and,
   in part, must account for the ever increasing number of vegetarians
   one encounters.  However, as the authors of _COOKING_ (the art of
   using appliances and utensils to convert ingredients and seasonings 
   into excuses and apologies) have pointed out in their entry on
   Lobster, it is merely a question of philosophy:

   Lobster:  Everyone loves these delectable crustaceans, but many
             cooks are squeamish about placing them into boiling water 
             alive, which is the only proper method of preparing them.
             Frankly, the easiest way to eliminate your guilt is to
             establish theirs by putting them on trial before they're
             cooked.  The fact is, lobsters are among the most ferocious
             predators on the sea floor, and you're helping reduce crime
             in the reefs.  Grasp the lobster behind the head, look it right
             in its unmistakably guilty eyestalks and say, "Where were
             you on the night if the 21st?", then flourish a picture of a
             scallop or a sole and shout, "Perhaps this will refresh that
             crude neural apparatus you call a memory!"  The lobster will
             squirm noticeably.  It may even take a swipe at you with one
             of its claws.  Incorrigible. Pop it into the pot.  Justice has
             been served, and shortly you and your friends will be, too.

    Yes, you can--you have to thoroughly crack each claw and body segment,
    though, to make sure that the steam can escape and the lobster doesn't
    blow up.
    
    But on strictly humanitarian grounds, have some pity for the poor
    lobster.  Dropping him into boiling water kills him almost instantly
    (at least the shock knocks him out).  Getting one's claws (and every
    claw joint) cracked, one's chest and abdomen savaged, and then getting
    microwaved has got to be excruciating.  Boil the poor bugger.  Please.
    

< Note 1301.2 by CSSE32::BELLETETE "the Duke makes me Puke" >
                          -< There are other ways... >-

Why is it that I soemtimes write in a reply and then it doesn't get 
put into notes.....I can't understand why this happens...

Anyway, you can instantly kill the lobster by inserting a sharp knife 
into the area between the body and the tail on the backside of the 
lobster. Until I found this method I used to have a pretty hard time 
bake stuffing my lobsters. Some of them would put up quite a struggle 
when I was cutting them up the middle. I find this method to be 
very effective. Just be sure that you do it just before you put them in 
the microwave. Don't let them hang around dead and uncooked for a long time.....

  Somewhere, we found a recipe which claimed that the best way to make
  boiled lobster is to start the live lobster in cold water. I'm not
  kidding, it really said this. What's even sicker, I'm ashamed to
  admit, was that we tried it. The lobster did NOT taste better. I have
  no further comment.

  - Mike

I we were supposed to be kind to lobsters, they'd be less ugly and less 
delicious!

But before I get lots of hate mail from the ASPCL, I believe they deserve as  
quick and painless a death as possible.  Severing the main nerve by inserting 
a knife between the body and tail is about as quick as it gets.  It is said to 
kill the animal instantly.  It is called pithing, and it is how cattle are 
(were?) killed, not to mention my high school biology frog.


						     
							- JP

	 Re: pithing lobsters

	 Julia Child  has  a  couple  of  pages dedicated to the subject in
    _Julia  Child's  Kitchen_,  where she says that severing the main nerve
    may  dump  the contents of the stomach sac and intestine into the tail,
    and is not recommended.  Besides, they don't die immediately, they just
    stop  moving.   She  cites marine biologists who say that throwing them
    into  boiling  water  is  more humane, as they are dead long before the
    muscles stop moving (i.e., nearly immediately.)

	 BTW, she  spells  it  'tomalley.' So does Legal Seafoods.  I agree
    with  what's  been  said  about  livers  in  general  -  don't eat them
    regularly,  as  they  are  loaded  with toxins.  Moreover, most animals
    don't  have  gall  bladders  -  the  liver  serves the function of gall
    storage, increasing the concentrations.

	 JJRitz

I have an Amana Microwave oven, I ordered a steamer thru the Raytheon
    Company, have relatives that work there.  Yes, you may cook
    not only a lobster in it, you do not have to kill it first,
    but you may also do an entire clambake in it.  Tastes great.
    
    

    Re:  humane lobster treatment
    I attended a professional cooking school in Cambridge several years
    ago and my instructor had an unusual way of handling the situation.
    She massaged the lobster until it appeared to be paralyzed.  If
    you stood it on the table on end, it wouldn't wiggle around.  She
    then proceeded to sever the nerve with the knife.  As many of her
    recipes called for sauteeing the lobster pieces while uncooked,
    boiling was not possible.  She felt this method was most humane.
     It was somewhat like lulling the creature to sleep.

  My wife also attended that program, and, by golly, this method really
  does hypnotize the beasties. Whether it's more humane than other
  methods, from the point of view of the lobser, is hard to say, but at
  least it's easier on OUR consciences, since the thing isn't squirming
  around when you deliver the coup de grace. 

  My wife hasn't prepared any of those dishes since completing the
  program.

  - Mike

        We used to get Lobsters drunk before we killed them (A bottle
        of cheap red wine into the tub the were swimming in.) 
        
        This was taught to me by a Marine Biologist, who also fed cows
        several beers before slaughtering them on his farm...
        
        q
        

    It seems like it would be much easier to steam a couple of lobsters
    over a couple quarts of boiling water. Not only does it kill the
    lobster instantly but you could reduce the liquid to use as a stock
    for your sauce.
    
    John

    I agree with .3.....take it a step further....take all the meat out
    of the cooked lobster and out of all the shells, add more water and
    make lobster stock (Julia Child has this in one of her books) with
    whatever seasoning you like....
    
    Rick

    Sorry, perhaps instantly was the wrong choice of words. The object
    is to have the water so hot that the killing time is reduced as
    much as possible. I don't believe that a lobster suffers for more
    than a second or two if put in a covered pot of shallow water (a
    couple of inches) at a full rolling boil. The water is at 212 deg.
    and the steam is going to be hotter than that. I believe the shock
    of going from a 40 deg. frig. to 212+ deg. would be enough to kill
    anything in a relatively short period of time. Of course you could
    kill them instantly with hammer if you knew where the brain was
    and could be sure that you hit it the first time. I think I'll stick
    with the water method. It's a sure kill, less messy and you can
    use the water for stock afterward.

    In re: steam
    
    The steam will not be hotter than 212 degrees, unless pressurized.  In
    any case, what counts is that the thermal transfer rate from steam to
    crustacean will be substantially slower than that from water of
    comparable temperature.  Thus the demise will be correspondingly
    slowed.

    I think there are notes somewhere in this notesfile that deal with how
    to kill a lobster (what's more merciful, etc).  It's quite humorous.
    
    My dad used to chop a lobster up into pieces while they are alive and
    squirming.  And quickly stir-fry them.  I didn't think it was gross
    until I tried to boil a live lobster.  I don't think I will repeat
    that performance in a while.  Luckily Market Basket will steam lobsters,
    so if I ever wanted one, at least I won't be the instrument of death...
    
    -Stella

    
    RE: .10
    Whether or you you do the actual killing is beside the point, YOU are
    still the reason for the lobster dying.  Why is it that people cannot
    accept the fact that something, be it animal or plant, must die for
    them to survive?  Nothing is born plastic wrapped.
    
    Bob

        Having a farm where we grow cows and crayfish, (Yes, really -
        about 100 head of cattle and 350-400,000 marron crayfish in South
        East Queensland, Australia), one of our popular ways of either
        killing a cow or a crayfish is to get them drunk first. Cows love
        beer (particularly when spiked with pure alcohol...) and they are
        totally relaxed when killed. With the crays, we let them swim for
        a few minutes in a tub of cheap red wine, diluted with water. When
        their antennae start going all over the place they are ready to
        boil...
        
        q
        

    I haven't tried this yet myself but plan on it.
    
    My friends put the lobster in one of the oven cooking bags for roasts
    (which I have never used either) and zapped it for 5 or 6 minutes, one
    lobster at a time.  1 to 1-1/2 pounds.
    
    They got this recipe out of a second cookbook by the author of " The
    Microwave Gourmet".  Can't think of  her name, Barbara something.  They
    claim it's no worse than boiling one to death.  Not messy.  I just
    can't imagine trying to stuff that lobster into the bag without getting
    attack.
    

	A perennial problem with sensitive lobster lovers is cooking the tasty 
	crustaceans without feeling guilty.  Many people remember Woody Allen 
	trying to get the feisty devils into the pot in "Annie Hall."   Now, 
	according to graduate student Michael B. Loughlin and his thesis 
	adviser, Robert C. Bayer of the University of Maine at Orono's 
	Department of Animal and Veterinary Sciences, lobster "... don't have 
	enough of a brain to express pain."  But, if you're still concerned 
	about the pain issue, Loughlin, a former gunnery and weapons office 
	on the USS Iwo Jima, recommends keeping the lobster on ice for 15 
	minutes before dropping it into rolling, boiling water.  But the 
	bottom line is that the tail flips are a brainless reflex to heat and 
	if there is any real suffering, "it's on the part of the concerned 
	cooks preparing the meal."

							The Boston Globe
							2/11/91  Page 47
							'Names and Faces'

       'How to Kill a Lobster without a Guilty Conscience'       
       [Excerpted from _The_Lobster_Almanac_ by Bruce Ballenger]
       
       ...Lobster lovers with soft hearts need not dispair, however.
       According to Gordon Gunter, former director of the Gulf Coast
       Research Laboratory, one method for killing lobsters and other
       crustaceans should let you sleep at night.  In an article first
       published in _Science_ in 1961, Gunter pointed out that most
       aquatic invertebrates like the lobster are as sensitive to
       relatively low heat as they are to high temperatures.  Both are
       lethal, but he claims that lobsters put in a pot with water that
       is very slowly heated to about 100 degrees Farenheit - which feels
       only lukewarm to us - will kill the animals without distress.  The
       pot can then be brought to a boil to finish the cooking. Large
       lobsters can be killed by putting them in a tub of water and
       placing it in a sunny part of the house where the water will warm
       to the mortal temperature.  
          This vulnerability to low heat, he says, is well documented,
       and though it's impossible to prove scientifically that lobsters
       feel absolutely no pain when they succumb in lukewarm water, the
       cook doesn't have to have one foot on the lid as in the scalding
       method.  
          "Crustaceans subjected to low heat are certinly not paralyzed,"
       Gunter says.  "They stir about vigorously if touched, and their
       gills work increasingly fast up to the moment of death.  There is
       no sign of pain or distress, and it is reasonable to assume that
       an organism showing such reactions is much less likely to be
       distressed than one which goes into a violent spasm.
       

RE: .22 (pithing)

Pithing an animal does NOT kill it (at least, not right away).  Pithing merely
destroys the spinal cord (or, in the case of lobsters, major ganglia) so that
the creature is paralyzed.  The creature is still alive.  This is precisely why
it's done to frogs in Biology classes--vivisection is difficult when the animal
is trying to hop away from you while you're cutting it up.

--PSW