Just a quick post on this New Year’s Eve. I just made a wonderful dinner for myself and my family. Lili and I went to Albertson’s intending on getting a filet mignon steak for each of us to pair with a baked potato for our New Year’s Eve dinner. While kind of browsing the butcher block, Lili spotted lobster tails on sale for $5 a piece. I thought “Man, surf and turf tonight would be awesome!” After consulting with her (because you know, she’s the boss), we decided to get each of us a lobster tail also. She wasn’t crazy about the steak (she’s still forming her palate), but the lobster tail disappeared off her plate. She’s a lobster monster. Lawday, she must think they’re crawfish on steroids. But they are not. The meat isn’t as sweet as crawfish, but still greatly enjoyable nonetheless. And they’re easier to cook than you think.
I think the easiest way to cook lobster tails is steaming them. They don’t dry out, and they’re easy to prep for steaming. It works best when you have a steamer insert for a pot with a tight-fitting lid. I have an Oneida pot such as this that I have used for years to cook cous cous (which is best when it’s steamed.) It’s deep enough to steam snow crab legs or lobster tails.
For prepping, use kitchen shears to snip a line down the back of the tail from the opening to just before the tail fan. Using your hands on either side of the opening, gently push the opening edges apart until you hear it “crack”. You should see the vein. Remove it. Separate the flesh of the tail from the shell with your fingers. Gently pull the tail up through the opening, but don’t separate it from the tail fan. Lay the meat on top of the shell as shown in the picture above. Put enough water in your steamer pot to within one or two inches below the steamer basket so that the lobster tails stay out of the water, but are close to the steam. Bring the water to a boil, adding a little salt, maybe a teaspoon for every quart of water. Add the tails to the pot and tightly cover with the lid. Steam for 4-6 minutes. Do NOT oversteam. Chewing on rubbery overcooked lobster is not an enjoyable experience. If you have a meat thermometer, the internal temperature of the tail meat should be at least 134 degrees Fahrenheit. That’s the best test to see if the tails are done. Don’t cut into the tails to check if they’re done. Trust your thermometer.
Serve the tails with clarified butter for dipping. Common side dishes are baked potatoes, steamed baby potatoes, or a nice risotto, and asparagus or Brussel sprouts. Quite an elegant dinner for a little more than what you’d pay for an extra value meal at Mickey D’s. No offense to Mickey D’s, but Jesus help anybody who’d pick that over lobster for dinner. Unless you have an allergy. And in that case, you probably shouldn’t be eating Mickey D’s anyway. Just sayin’.
