How to unshell a lobster in under 60 seconds
My brother in Law Jake Dowling gave me a quick (really quick) tutorial on how to unshell a lobster recently. He is a native of Maine (which has too much lobster–if you did not know) so this kind of thing is truly second nature to him. He showed me how to unshell a lobster in less than 60 seconds without breaking a sweat.
As they were cooking, I was told that bigger is not always better with lobsters, and there is a perfect size for texture and flavor that is somewhere around pound and a quarter in weight. So, getting the timer running here, Jake takes the claws off first, as you can see in the image below. The next step is to grasp the body in one hand and the tail in the other, and gently twist to separate the two body parts.
At this point Jake typically disposes of the body, but I want to step in and note that there are a few pieces worth salvaging. The legs have exceptionally tasty meat that can easily be removed by using a rolling pin. Just start at one end and roll over them, and the meat will pop right out. You should keep a look out also for red lobster roe in the tail. If you are lucky enough to get it it’s delicious. The next step is to break the tail and push the meat out from inside. This should be really easy and yield a lot of meat.
From here we can move onto the claws. Compared to the rest of the lobster, these can be a little tricky. First you want to snap the joint and also break off the movable part of the claw. You may notice that this is the only picture that was not over a plate. when you remove the bottom of the claw, a liquid will come out of it. You can see it in the picture. You probably want to move over a sink or trash can. You can use a cracker to break into the claw and extract the rest of the meat.
All that we have left now is the back portion of the claw. If you apply pressure with your hands against the joint it should pop right open and you are good to go.
If I missed anything here, please let me know! Thanks to Jake for letting me photo his lightning fast hands, and then feeding me lobsters.
Excellent! Thank you for demonstrating this.
@ Syd: Thanks really go to Jake, I just shot the picture… but you are welcome!
Well, John, in my 60+ years, I have probably unshelled several hundred lobsters similarly to the method in your demo . . . obviously you get the idea I LOVE lobster!
But, I sure did enjoy looking at your great photos.
you have nice hands
Wow nice job done there!
Some of the best meat is in the body! If you throw the body away without picking it through for meat, you’re really missing out and wasting tasty, sweet, lobster meat!
@Gotta eat the body: Give us some tips! I usually just get the legs. I like the tomalley (liver) too, but I have heard that it’s not always that clean, and can contain concentrated ride tide and other toxic things.
in chinese restaurants, i’ve seen the head/body cut into quarters (across the segments) which exposes the meat. you can poke it out with chopsticks or tiny seafood forks.
@Lina: Ok, we are going out to try. You have a place in mind?
have you been to 8th ave in brooklyn yet?
in general, chinese restaurants chop up lobsters into bitsized segments with shell and you can share with more ppl. you can usually dislodge everything with just chopsticks and your other hand to hold it down.
I used to live on the coast of MA just south of NH and part one summer job I had was to cook and unshell about 25 to 50 lobsters every day or two. This is exactly the method we used to unshell our lobster. I thought construction gave me calluses, but cleaning lobster was bad too. Often, we also used an oyster (or scallop) shucker to get the meat out of the knuckles (my favorite part – so underrated). Using a knife to half or quarter the lobster is fine too, but there is something fun and satisfying about cracking it apart yourself.
My husband and I used to love to eat lobster.
Sadly his disability pension that we live on does not allow luxuries like that anymore.
[...] you can even cook lobster on the grill. For those of you not in the know, here’s a quick shelling tutorial. And if you’ve got leftovers, how about lobster [...]
Behind those legs you took off is the MEAT (muscle) that holds them to the body and makes them work. It may be tedious but the result can almost be equivalent to a large claw. Have another beer and go at it!
Lobster in Maine is now $4/pound – buy it while you can!