How much do you like lobster? I live in Maine, but I have eaten lobster only once in my life. Someone insisted that I try it at one of the more popular seafood places in Maine. I thought it was okay, but it was far more bother than it was worth.
I really love lobster and I wish it was not so expensive. It is hard to imagine that lobster was once considered “servant food” and the rich people would not even think of eating it. I am not sure how it got completely changed around, but now, pretty much, poor people can’t afford to eat lobster. If you tried it and were not impressed, it might not have been prepared well. Lobster dipped in melted butter is totally awesome !
I gotta go with the "I love lobster with drawn butter" crowd. I've steamed live lobsters at home that I got from the grocery store tank (do they still have these?) I had been buying frozen tails when they would go on sale for New Years, but they're not all that flavorful anymore. (I just read that some countries have banned steaming live lobsters. This was well over 10 years ago. Some USA cities have followed suit.) I thought that Biblical food laws were part of all this, but it seems that Europeans had been eating lobster for a long time before American colonial days. Early settlers followed the Native American custom of gathering lobsters off the beach following storms (an easy plentiful food source), but if you didn't cook them while they were still living, they made you sick (which is why you steam them alive.) And the pile of dead ones got rank quickly. Lobster later became popular when the railroads opened up access to coastal food supplies for those further inland and people discovered them for the first time.
Our Maine summer some years back was a gustatory delight as the lobster harvest had come in early and extremely plentiful. You could get a steamed one at one of the pounds for $2. Needless to say, I ate lobster until it was a miracle that I didn't turn red and grow pincers and a tail. Lobster tail, lobster rolls, lobster chowder, lobster salad...... Consider that at one time, lobster was "poor people's food". The rich ate beef and the poor ate lobster, clams, mussels, oysters. Just the opposite now....the rich eat lobster and shellfish and the...uh, less-than-rich....eat McDonalds. (The poor can't afford a Quarter Pounder any longer.)
When we have gone to Longhorn Steakhouse or Outback Steakhouse, I will have ordered the combo of Fillet Mignon and Lobster Tail. I have the Fillet and my wife has the Lobster Tail. I'll have a bite of her Lobster, but love the Fillet Mignon!
If given the choice between Maine and Florida lobster, I’ll snatch up the Florida every time over its yankee cousin. Granted, Florida lobster is actually a large crawfish but a broiled (NOT boiled or steamed) tail seasoned with lemon, paprika and butter looks just as tantalizing as the Maine lobster but to me it is a lot sweeter. Now, give me 2 nice broiled Florida tails along with about a half dozen or so Alaskan King Crab legs and claws, some drawn butter with lemon then leave me alone, cut the chatter and give me some space cause it’s gonna get messy !
Well I think there was a clue when a major chain (now at Death's door) intentionally went downscale in its clientele decades back and became known for greasy Chubbers' Biscuits and Dumpster Dump Specials ("all you can eat").
There might be something out there like that but I never heard of it. Crawfish and crab are boiled live too. I think the thing that folks are a bit squeamish about is the so called “scream” that is heard when the hard shells hit the boiling water. It is just gas escaping from under the shell but people, especially PETA members say that the hard shell is, without vocal cords mind you, screaming from pain.
They’re edible but so is raw fish which is a delicacy in the U.S. now. (hate the stuff) Had an uncle who ate sand fleas….live.
There are a handful of countries and U.S. cities where this is required. NYC was mentioned in one article. I have no idea what they do to stun them...maybe show them the price of a lobster meal When I was a kid we camped in Ocean City MD for weeks on end. I would be out there crabbing (string & chicken necks) whenever the tide was coming in. I can't begin to estimate how many of those critters we sent to a steamy grave. And I agree with you regarding broiling the tails (and the claws) rather than steaming them. I think less of the flavor leeches away.