The king of crustaceans, caught off the west coast of Ireland, is available from May to the beginning of September.
Only mature lobster should be kept for eating – ones that have reached the age of about seven years old and have a length of about 12 inches and weigh around 2lbs. The female spawns only every second year and from the approximately 20,000 eggs it carries under its tail, only a few dozen develop to reach reproductive maturity themselves.
Lobsters need time to recover from the shock of being caught. They have strong claws and a thick protective skin, so if they are cooked straight away their flesh is always tough.
Once caught, lobsters should be allowed to rest in special cages for a few days while immersed in seawater. If the lobster is out of the water for a number of hours, it will eat itself to keep alive.
It is easy to identify if the lobster you are buying has been left out of the water, as the flesh will be soft and falling apart.
One of my earliest encounters with lobster was when I was working as a teenager during the summer holidays in the kitchens of Chez Hans restaurant in Cashel. I saw this alien-looking thing in front of me, and the chef told me it would bite my finger off if I went near it.
Years later, I saw this beautiful creature in its own environment, when I was diving off St John’s Point in Donegal. I was amazed to see that, when I came close to it, it swam backwards and disappeared into a cave.
I waited for it to reappear and, when it did, I resisted taking it for dinner (it’s illegal to do so).
If cooking lobster, you should always buy it alive. If someone tries to sell you a dead lobster for a cheap price, you will pay dearly for it later.
It is also important to leave the elastic bands on its claws, as the Chez Hans chef was right – if you get pinched, it will be painful.
The other thing I love about lobster is its eggs, which are delicious when marinated in dry martini. I also use the coral to make lobster coral butter. The eggs are a beautiful black colour, and the coral is green, yet both turn to a beautiful pink when cooked.
There are several ways to cook lobster. Many people find the idea of immersing a lobster in boiling water, or cutting it in half while it is still alive, cruel. The truth is that there is no way to cook a lobster that does not seem cruel.
At Thornton’s, we slowly drown the lobster in fresh water over a few hours, then cook it in a court bouillon for 30 seconds.
Once removed from the heat, I make a consommé from the shells, and then oven-cook the lobster meat in the consommé at 50 degrees for 12 minutes.
Another easy choice is to prepare it with a sauce made of fresh tomatoes, shallots, garlic and brandy, and again oven-cook it at the same temperature.
Remember that a lobster’s skin is blue-black and turns red only when cooked, and that the best lobster flesh comes from the claws. The recipe below is for lobster simply cooked in calvados.
Ingredients – lobster in calvados, serves four
Four small lobsters (each weighing 14oz), or two large lobsters (each weighing 1.5lbs to 2lbs)
100g butter
Salt and freshly ground pepper
100ml calvados
Pinch of sugar
Method
1. Set the oven at a high temperature (250 degrees). Cut the live lobster in two, length-ways, clean the heads, then gut it.
2. Add the halves to a skillet, coat with 50g butter and add salt and pepper to taste. Cook for 10 to 15 minutes in the oven, continually basting it with the juice.
3. Near the end of the cooking time, carefully add the calvados, as it should not come into direct contact with the lobster meat.
4. Add the remaining butter and the pinch of sugar, and cook the lobster halves in the oven for a further eight minutes. Serve hot.
Kevin Thornton is a Michelin-starred chef and Owner of Thornton’s Restaurant on St Stephen’s Green in Dublin. www.thorntonsrestaurant.com