Lobster tails
are one seafood delight that I usually shy away from. Reason being the cost is usually out of our food budget. When they are on sale at the local grocery store, the 4 ounce size, we usually splurge and buy 3 or 4 and I cook a nice dinner.
Okay, so when you can get a locally caught, fresh 1 pound spiney lobster tail for free, you just can't pass it up, right?
Our fishmonger has a club that when you purchase fish and other products from his store, you earn points. We have been "goin' fishing" here for a couple of years and earned enough points for a free 1 pound fresh, local lobster tail. Our fishmonger picked us out their first choice and off we went.
Already I was scared that I would not cook it properly, even with all of the fishmongers suggestions. I've only cooked a tail this big twice, I get shaky just thinking about it. This time I did not have them prep the tail, I did it at home. Meaning, splitting the shell, lifting the meat out, closing the shell and putting the meat on top for cooking.
My instructions were to broil it on high, second level down for up to 20-30 minutes. I forgot to ask what kind of oven the chef used, electric or gas? Professional oven, home oven. Anyway my biggest fear was that I would over cook my prized possession. Lobsta' tail... I decided to focus on internal temp cooking, or getting the tail meat to 135-140 degrees without burning the flesh. By putting the meat back on the shell, the thicker flesh is closer to the broiler and the thinner flesh is further away thus making it easier to cook evenly.
The tail was seasoned with ground Maldon Sea Salt Flakes, ground black pepper, lemon zest and 1/8 (+/-) pound of Kerry Gold salted butter pats. With melted Kerry Gold butter to dip the cooked lobster in when served.
In my oven I found that I needed to broil it until the top of the flesh browned and the butter melted. I checked internal temp, then moved the lobster to a center rack and change oven over to bake, until the desired internal temp was reached. Total time in my oven, 2 stages, was about 20-25 minutes. Perfectly done and not destroyed as I had feared.
Cooking for me always has a learning curve. Unless you are taught or professionally trained, usually you will make mistakes. My mistake this time was that I had never been taught to remove the membrane that is between the flesh and shell before cooking. Lesson learned...
One time when we had "gone fishing" at our fishmongers store they had a live 8 pound (total weight) lobster in their iced case. It was HUGE, never seen anything like it before. Not many live lobster in Colorado...
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