Lobster has always been referred to as a luxury delicacy across many parts of the world, and cooking them requires plenty of knowledge and skill. However, you would be surprised at just how easy cooking a lobster tail actually is, and the best part is that your guests don’t need to know any differently!
So instead of throwing away your lobster tail just take note of the following tips and ways of cooking them.
Like any type of food it’s important to prepare what your about to cook in order to get the very best results. If your lobster is still frozen then you will want to let them thaw out before you cook them. There is nothing wrong with cooking them frozen but because they are in a solid state you won’t benefit from a tender taste when they are finally cooked.
If you need to thaw them then the best method is to just transfer them from freezer to fridge and let them naturally thaw over the course of half a day to get the best results.
Now, depending on your chosen cooking method it will vary in the way that you remove the meat from the shell. For example, grilling the tails, you wjust need to cut the tail in half or you can leave it as whole. This is done because the shell will take the full intense heat protecting the meat. However for pan searing you are best to remove the meat completely from its shell casing and cook the meat on its own.
You will firstly need to preheat the grill to a medium heat, and while this starts to heat up you can prepare your lobster tails by cutting them each in half, right down the middle with a clean snap. Now you should visibly see the white meat, you now want to dress the meat with some butter (or oil it’s up to you), and then some seasoning such as pepper, salt or lemon.
Grilling lobster tails is usually very quick to do, and you only need to cook them for about 5 minutes on each side, with slightly more time spent on the shell side as it will need to penetrate through the shell to cook the meat.
You will know the tails are cooked by just looking at the meat itself, it should have changed in consistency from translucent to opaque. You can now take them off the grill and away from the heat.
Serve them up with a dressing or salad for the perfect appetiser.
The second step is to boil your lobster which is usually the more popular option out of the ones that we are going to talk you through today. For boiling, you can leave the tails intact as they will cook better, and then you can scrape the meat out after they have cooked through. The shell is also said to maximise the flavour of the meat.
Get yourself a large saucepan and then bring some water to the boil, but add some salt first (you can add between 1 and 2 tablespoons). When the water is boiling just add the tails to the pan and then reduce the boil to a gentle simmer, and take into account that 1 ounce of tail minute equates to 1 minute of cooking time.
Many people tend to overcook lobster tails, and then the meat becomes dry and tough to eat. We are looking for tender here.
As soon as they have cooked take them out and let them cool down before you begin to crack the shells open. Just be sure you don’t break apart the lobster meat at this stage.
Pan searing is quick and adds a lot of flavour to your lobster tails, but first you need to gently remove the meat from the shell to begin cooking the meat, you can do this by cutting the tail down the middle lengthwise but make sure you don’t cut the meat in half at the same time.
Once you have done this add some butter to a pan and bring it up to a medium heat, then add the meat to the pan cooking each side for a minimum of around 3 minutes. You can add some seasoning such as coarse salt, pepper and lemon juice as it cooks away in the pan, or you can add these at the end.
Once the meat has turned opaque and it no longer in a translucent state you know that your meat is well cooked and then is ready to be served up to your dinner guests.
Last update on 2024-04-26 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
