Lobsters

You can’t beat the wow factor when serving a whole cooked lobster to the customer’s table. Native Lobsters are from coastal waters around the UK and are often considered the best, but are usually all sold locally or exported. Canadian and American Lobsters are caught off the East Coast of Canada and down as far as Maine, and provide a readily available year-round alternative.

There is much debate as to the most humane method for cooking live Lobsters. The Royal Society For The Prevention of Cruelty To Animals (RSPCA) recommend you first place them in a freezer for two hours, which renders them unconscious. Then before boiling, drive a sharp pointed knife through the cross on the head(death is instantaneous).

This prevents the meat becoming tougher. You can then plunge them into heavily salted (40g per litre) boiling water and simmer for 15minutes for 500g adding 2 minutes per additional 100g. Alternatively you can halve the Lobster and grill, or remove the claws and body meat and steam or stir-fry.

Unusual looking and bearing little resemblance to what we recognise as a Lobster, Slipper Lobsters – or Bugs as they are known in Australia – don’t have claws so all the meat is in the tail.

Despite their higher price per kilo when whole, when you compare the yield with a traditional Lobster, Slippers can be better value, though not as readily available and normally sold frozen.