eating lobster help please !!!!!

hi my girlfriend and i will be in boston in july for 3 nights and have decided that seeing as we will be in boston we would love to go to a proper fish restaurant and have a nice meal. We have already decided on skipjacks ( i know people have mixed reviews but its what she wants so who am i to argue )The problem we have is that i personally would love to try lobster but i dont know how you are suppose to tackle it when its on the plate. Is there any way you can ask them to prepare it so it comes already out of the shell so there is no messing about with it or is there any dish that includes lobster that would give me the authentic taste im looking for. Thanks a million

eating lobster help please !!!!!

In better restaurants, they will ';crack'; it for you. That means breaking the shell so you can access the meat. If they do that for you, don%26#39;t forget at tipping time.

You can also get baked stuffed lobster, which has the lobster meat removed and mixed with a crumb mixture of some sort and then returned to the shell. Then everything is exposed and is accessible. It%26#39;s more expensive, but I prefer the taste (and ease) myself.

AlanM

eating lobster help please !!!!!

Baked stuffed...

Even people who know what they%26#39;re doing (not me, mind you), seem to struggle and make a bit of a mess.

Hi,

The baked stuffed version of lobster usually is cracked open in half, so that%26#39;s easier to eat. Also, you can sometimes find lobster pie, which is the lobster meat cooked like a pot pie. Or, many places serve a surf and turf, which is a steak and a lobster tail.

One other option is to go for a lobster roll, which is also a New England specialty. They may have one at Skipjack%26#39;s. It%26#39;s usually under the sandwich section of the menu. The classic roll is a pile of lobster meat with a tiny bit of mayo, and maybe a bit of celery, salt and pepper, piled on a buttered and toasted hot dog bun.

Personally, to me half the fun is tying the bib around your neck and going to town on a steamed lobster. It%26#39;s really not hard to do at all. Most of the meat is in the tail and the claws. You twist the tail off at the base and push the tail out in one piece with your fork. you crack the claws with the nutcracker, across the knuckle and pull the meat out.

If you are a real expert, you suck the meat out of the legs and poke through the body cavity for the tamale and the bits of meat inside. However, many people just settle for the claw and tail meat.

Good suggestion by Beantown Man that maybe a lobster roll would be the way to go for you two. This way you get to taste all the wonderful lobster meat without things getting a bit messy.

I also enjoy putting the bib on and going the traditional route. I%26#39;m sure they will crack them for you so that all you would have to do is use your fingers or lobster fork to extract the meat. Explaining to your server that you never ate a lobster before usually ends up with good advice on how to go to battle.

Baked stuffed can be quite delicious or downright dried out due to needing to bake the lobster under a broiler after stuffing it. I know your significant other wants to go to Skipjack%26#39;s for lobster, but if you decide to go the baked stuffed route, consider these two places that I just found in a very recent article from the Boston Globe.

boston.com/ae/…

Good suggestion by Beantown Man that maybe a lobster roll would be the way to go for you two. This way you get to taste all the wonderful lobster meat without things getting a bit messy.

I also enjoy putting the bib on and going the traditional route. I%26#39;m sure they will crack them for you so that all you would have to do is use your fingers or lobster fork to extract the meat. Explaining to your server that you never ate a lobster before usually ends up with good advice on how to go to battle.

Baked stuffed can be quite delicious or downright dried out due to it needing to bake under a broiler after stuffing it. I know your girlfriend wants to go to Skipjack%26#39;s for lobster, but if you decide to go the baked stuffed route, consider these two places that I just found in a very recent article from the Boston Globe.

boston.com/ae/…

A lot of restaurants actually give you a ';lobster kit'; when you order a boiled lobster. It includes nutcrackers, a lobster pick, a lobster bib, wipes and a place-mat on ';How to eat a lobster';

I have not been to a restaurant that will crack the lobster for you. I would be interested in what restaurants would do this service, they must be out of my price range.

www.youtube.com/watch…

…about.com/od/lobster/ss/aaeatlobster.htm

boston.com/travel/…

http://www.gma.org/lobsters/eatingetc.html

great advice as usual everyone thanks a million The one idea i am now interested in is the surf and turf route as i am a steak fan to say the least . Just wondering if i got a steak and lobster tail will i have any trouble getting the lobster meat out of the tail or is it simple enough even for an irish man to manage lol. Thanks again and we look forward to visting boston

I once saw on Japanese television a man demonstrate how to eat really fresh lobster by taking one out of the trap on the back of the boat, rip its tail off with his bare hands, open the raw tail, grab the meat, dip it in cognac (how I know this was cognac I don%26#39;t remember - must be the same word in Japanese), and eat it, all within about 15 seconds.

I was taught all kinds of elaborate methods to remove the meat from the tail as a child, like I was performing surgery, but as an adult I just crack the tail with one of those nutcracker things, and rip it open with my bare hands.

I%26#39;ve never had a baked stuffed lobster, nor have I ever eaten a live Lobster pulled straight from the sea. Just boiled lobster. My father was from Maine and thought the taste of lobster was boring (!) - he preferred Alaskan King Crab. My mother is from New Hampshire and lobster is still her favorite meal - she is one of those people who eats the green tamale, which I%26#39;ve never even tried.

To get a really traditional New England lobster meal I would recommend going to Summershack. It seems kind of ridiculous to pay people to boil lobsters but I have to admit that one of the reasons we don%26#39;t eat lobster at home very often (besides the price!) is that amount of mess that is left over, that has to go out with the trash.

Anyway, to answer your original question, I would just get boiled Lobster.

When in doubt, ask your waiter ... they%26#39;re accustommed to tourists and willing to help.

Also, occassionally, Baked Stuffed Lobsters will still have their claws, with only the tail meat being used to make the stuffing .... I know this cuz my Mom worked at a now-defunct restaruant that served this way and occassionally tourists wouldn%26#39;t bother with the claws so she%26#39;d bring them home to our CAT ... (we%26#39;d be eating hotdogs and the cat would get lobster ... but it was too gross to think of US eating off of a stranger%26#39;s plate ...)

As for raw lobster ... YUCK ... I can%26#39;t even picture it ... wouldn%26#39;t the roe and tamale be quite slimy? --- maybe the congac was to %26#39;cleanse%26#39; the meat?

Louthmale, if you get the surf %26amp; turf, some places serve it with the lobster tail out of the shell while others leave it in the shell. If it comes in the shell, ask if they can remove it for you. It%26#39;s really not a big deal to get it out, but you can end up with lobster juice on you.

Just looked at a few menus for surf %26amp; turf..Skipjack%26#39;s was $48 for a 6oz filet mignon. Atlantic was $44 with a 10oz. filet and Legal Seafoods was a filet with lobster, market price, so not sure what the price would be. I would recommend going to Atlantic, but Skipjack%26#39;s would be fine as well.