Lobster Death! Freezer vs. Alcohol
I love lobster but I must admit I am not very good at cooking it. I want to make this easier on my self by just adding the lobster to a flavorful broth. I've heard in the past that if you are going to boil lobster for best results you should purchase the lobster alive and keep it alive until you are ready to toss the lobster into the vessel of hot liquid.
Now the question at hand. I've been told that if you just toss the lobster into the hot liquid, the lobster suffers and tenses up making the meat chewy. Is this really true?
The two methods I've heard of prevent this.
First: Get the lobster drunk with alcohol.
Second: Throw the lobster into the freezer for 30 to 45 minutes before I throw the lobster into the hot liquid.
If these methods actually work, which one is better and why?
If the alcohol method is better, which alcohol should I use?
Revision:
Oh yea, I want to keep the lobster whole and intact for presentation reasons.
Best Answer
The way fish (shelfish included) is dispatched impacts both its flavor and texture. The Japanese have a long history of this knowledge. This type of fish killing is called ike jime.
Dave Arnold did some interesting research on this. You'll find it here: http://www.cookingissues.com/index.html%3Fp=5731.html
Bottom line: How you kill a lobster does impact its flavor.
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Can you freeze a lobster to death?
Freeze the lobster for 30 to 60 minutes, then put it in the pot of boiling water head-first. While the boiling water, rather than the freezer, will kill it almost instantly, the cold will immobilize the lobster so it won't thrash about.Is it cruel to boil lobsters alive?
Most scientists and animal activists agree that it is cruel to boil a live lobster. Lobsters do not have an advanced nervous system, but they do understand how to stay away from anything that may hurt them. Placing them in boiling water will cause them to feel pain until the second they die.Does freezing lobster put it to sleep?
Lobsters and other shellfish have harmful bacteria naturally present in their flesh. Once the lobster is dead, these bacteria can rapidly multiply and release toxins that may not be destroyed by cooking. You therefore minimise the chance of food poisoning by cooking the lobster alive.Why Do We Boil Lobsters Alive?
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Answer 2
Does cooking a lobster alive alter the flavor/texture?
No, not really.
Is there any truth to the claims that lobsters don't feel pain?
Absolutely not. They feel pain just like you do.
Does killing a lobster before cooking alter the flavor/texture?
Nope.
Are there other ways to kill a lobster so it doesn't suffer the horrible pain of being boiled alive?
Yep.
An alternative, if you don't mind having the carapace damaged, is to bisect the head vertically just before cooking. I made this diagram to instruct my coworkers on the technique.
Answer 3
Assuming you can get fresh lobster, you definitely should keep it as fresh as possible prior to cooking. Generally, that will mean keeping the bug alive until it's cooked.
I haven't heard of this effect myself, and if it's true, I very much doubt that it's due to the lobster "suffering". If anything, it's probably just that a vigorous boil applies too much heat too quickly, overcooking the lobster (which would definitely make it chewy and less pleasant).
Freezing the lobster accomplishes two things, then. First, it raises the total amount of heat energy required to cook it, offsetting the high heat and providing a slight buffer against overcooking. Second, the chill stuns the lobster, making it easier to handle and less likely to react vigorously when handled or exposed to its imminent doom.
I've never heard of getting lobsters "drunk", and as @rumtscho points out from comments, their metabolism is so significantly different from mammals' that alcohol likely wouldn't have the same effect. (Side note: we don't actually even have a complete understanding of ethanol's effect on our own brains, much less on lobsters'.) You could submerge your lobster in a solution of ethanol, which would force it to absorb some, but that might very well poison the critter instead (alcohol is toxic even in humans in sufficient concentration, after all). I would advise you not to waste your precious booze on what is basically a giant sea bug, especially not to test such a dubious proposition.
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