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Hi Christine, the rubber band helped him hold onto the pencil..
Now as a cooking tip, first put the lobster to sleep...yep to sleep. To do this hold the lobster upside down while you rub his belly and guess what in about a minute they do go to sleep. I then lay them in the pot on their backs and they don't wake up. Now one could say I do this to be more humane and while that's true, I do this mainly so the meat is sweeter.
Nope no squealing....just lots of home made ghee and lemon and of course local corn on the cob.
Basically what happens is that holding the lobster upside down changes the blood flow to its brain and it goes to sleep. If you go to YouTube and search for 'lobster sleep' you will see various folks putting a lobster to sleep which all involve holding the lobster upside down and then rubbing a part of the lobster....the rubbing actually has nothing to do with it, it just makes for a better story.
My neighbor at my house in Maine is a lobsterman and he and his wife have taught me all the tricks. The reason that putting the lobster to sleep makes the meat sweeter is that the lobster will not panic which releases various chemicals as part of the fight or flight reaction. This is the same issue when you kill a deer, if the deer runs a while before going down, it will taste terrible as where a deer that goes down quick, the meat tastes great.
Leslie, you are right. I am going out for lobster next week with friends who got a "deal" at a local restaurant. You can bet it wont be much good if it isn't super pricey!
Joe, I will see if the guy at the fish stall at Ralph's will give me a lobster if I tell him how to make the meat sweeter.
Putting the lobster to sleep - huh!
Loved the video, Joe. I first cooked a lobster as a teen and kind of freaked out when I dropped it in the water. I didn't cook one again for many years though I'd buy them already cooked or in a restaurant. In recent years I started cooking them again after hearing that if you stuck them in the freezer for a bit they kind of went to sleep (at least they didn't flop around when I put them in the water). This looks like a better solution. Thanks, Deb
Great picture, history and lesson on putting them to sleep! The picture is as close as I will be getting to a lobster dinner. Can't remember when we had lobster last.
grannyh
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