shellfish
Lobster
Two unrelated animals sell as lobster. Cold-water American lobster has claws; warm-water spiny lobster has none and is sold as tails only. Cold-water meat is firmer and sweeter. Either way it turns rubbery just past 140°F, which is why butter-poaching is the safest method there is.
In one line
Claws mean cold water. No claws means it's a different animal.
Buy it if
You want the firm, sweet cold-water version and you'll cook it gently enough to keep it that way.
Claws are the tell. Homarus americanus, the cold-water lobster off New England and Atlantic Canada, has two large claws. Spiny or rock lobster (Panulirus, warm water) has none — which is why it reaches you as a tail and nothing else. Cold-water meat is firmer and sweeter; warm-water tails cost less and are more prone to going soft.
You are buying a lot of shell. Roughly a fifth of a live lobster's weight comes out as edible meat. That is not a markup; it is the animal. Judge price by meat yield, not by the number on the tank.
Butter-poaching is insurance. Lobster protein seizes and turns rubbery just past 140°F, and a rolling boil is 212°F. Butter held at 160–180°F physically cannot rush past the window, which is why restaurants do it that way and why it is the most forgiving method at home.
Knuckle meat is the best value in the animal. It is the sweetest meat on a lobster and the cheapest, because getting it out is fiddly and nobody wants to do it.
Where it comes from on the animal
| Species | shellfish |
|---|---|
| Subprimal | tail, claw and knuckle meat, or whole |
What else it’s called
How to cook Lobster
| Best methods | Poach Steam Grill Broil Boil Deep fry |
|---|---|
| Cook to | About 140°F, and it's a cliff rather than a slope. Poached in butter it can't easily overshoot; boiled, a minute is the difference. |
Common questions
What's the difference between cold-water and warm-water lobster tails?
They are different animals. Cold-water tails come from clawed American lobster and have firmer, sweeter meat. Warm-water spiny lobster tails are cheaper and softer, and are more likely to come out mushy. If a tail is sold with claws, it is cold-water by definition.
Why does lobster go rubbery?
The proteins seize just past about 140°F, and the texture change is abrupt rather than gradual. Boiling water is 212°F, so the margin is measured in a minute or two. Poaching in butter around 160–180°F removes the cliff entirely.
How do I get raw tail meat out of the shell?
Blanch the tail 60 to 90 seconds in boiling water, then shock it in ice water. The meat releases from the shell without cooking through, so you can finish it however you like — seared, grilled, poached.
How much meat comes off a live lobster?
Roughly 20 percent of live weight. A 1.5-pound lobster yields on the order of a third of a pound of picked meat across tail, claws and knuckles — worth knowing before you compare a whole-lobster price against picked meat by the pound.
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