Friday, May 22, 2009
The American Lobster
Chef Frank A Terranova M.C.F.E.
The American Lobster
I don’t know of anyone who dislikes lobster: whether it’s boiled, stuffed, baked or whatever. It’s indisputably tasty, but lobster has a rather unsavory reputation. Lobsters have been called cannibals, aggressive fighters and scavengers.
The reputation is only partly deserved. Cannibalism- especially the eating of soft helpless lobsters that have just molted (or shed their old shell) is common among lobsters kept in crowded conditions such as an aquarium, but it appears to be uncommon in nature. American lobsters are aggressive and will fight for possession of rocky cave shelters. As for their diet there is no evidence that lobsters are primarily scavengers. They eat mainly live food, small crustaceans, and mollusks.
Interestingly enough lobsters, crabs and shrimp constitute the order known as decapods. As the name implies, all decapods have five pairs of legs. There are two commercially important families of edible lobsters. The American homarus americanus which have one pair of large claws and are found in the northern Atlantic Ocean. The spiny lobsters also called rock lobsters lack large claws and have spines all over their bodies. They live in tropical oceans.
Did you know what makes lobsters turn red? Live American lobsters are usually greenish olive or green-brown, though dusky orange and even blue lobsters are sometimes found. Diet, heredity and exposure to light all affect a lobster’s color. The major pigment in a lobster’s shell, astaxanthin, is actually bright red in its free state, but in the lobsters shell astaxanthin is chemically bound to proteins that change to a greenish or bluish color. When lobsters are cooked, heat breaks down these bonds, freeing the astaxanthin so that it reverts to its normal red color.
There are very few lobster hatcheries. One I know of is in Bar Harbor, Maine. Lobster was an expensive luxury but now, with controlled harvesting, they are to the point of being easy to access and the prices are excellent. I, for one, go to the boats where the lobsters arrive fresh from the ocean; I prefer not to go to a fish tank in a store because they are kept in a salt-like chemical which controls their PH and actually flushes the lobster’s body of that sweet, salty taste. So take a nice drive to Galilee down to the docks and purchase the freshest lobsters. When you cook them you will know right away why they are a true fine New England treat.
So I will order mine boiled, maybe lightly stuffed; or maybe a nice lobster roll with fresh homemade mayo, with chopped fennel instead of celery. If I grab a bib and lots of butter, make sure you sit well away from me because this could get messy. Also there isn’t anything that beats a smooth, rich lobster bisque. With my love for hot dogs it may become a face off between lobster vs. hot dog. Wonder who will win?
As always that’s “Cooking with Class”.
