RECIPES FOR A MINI-SEASON FEAST

De-Shelling the Lobster

Every year after our big catch we cook up a gigantic feast where every course has Florida Lobster in it. The menu has changed a bit over the years but it is still on of the highlights of the trip. I will eventually try and post the recipe's for all of the lobster dishes we make. I do need to add a quick disclaimer though. I have never actually written these recipe's down or actually measured what I am putting into the dishes. I usually do it by feel (and tasting and adjusting) but I will do my best to transfer them to directions that people can follow.

To kick us off I am going to describe how we de-shell the lobster tails. This is a key step in a lot of the recipe's as the majority of them call for the tail meat.

What You'll need: A Steamer, or any other make shift steaming mechanism, a knifewrench (or any other knife capable of butterflying a lobster tail), lobster tails, fork, cutting board, water.

1. Get water boiling and steam going
   
2. Put whole tails into the steamer, allow to steam for 1-2 minutes (we do not want to cook the tail all the way through unless otherwise instructed)
   
3. Remove tails (you probably want to use a towel or something to get them out of the steamer as they will be hot.
4. Flip the tails so the underside is up. Using your knifewrench or other cutting device butterfly the tails down the middle. The underside of the tail is much softer and thus much easier to make the cut on. After The lobster meat should be raw in the middle still.
   
5. Place the tail meat side down on the cutting board and jam the fork into it as far as you can. With your hand peel the shell off. It should come out extremely easily.

It is much easier to take the meat out of the shell if the outside has been slightly cooked. If you try and take the meat out of the tail while it is still 100% uncooked you tend to lose a lot of meat and make the task much, much more difficult. Once you have the meat out of the shell there are a ton of ways you can prepare it.

An important key to this method is not to over-cook the lobster. Most of the recipes we use the de-shelled meat for require further cooking so if you over cook it here you will end up with tough, overcooked lobster.

Look for future recipe's and tips for how to use the now de-shelled lobster meat in future posts.

LOBSTER LINGO

Bug [buhg]

- noun

1. A tasty bottom feeding crustacean of the family Palinuridae. Recognizable by their large antenna, spiny shell, and small front pincers. Typically found cowardly hiding in holes and under rocks.

Synonyms: Spiny Lobster, Florida Lobster.

Example: There are bugs everywhere down there! We are having a feast tonight boys!

LOBSTER LESSONS

Getting to Know your Lobsters

I figured I would try and explain a little bit more about the lobsters we catch and first wanted to point out that the lobster in teaser #1 is a Spanish Lobster. They are relatively common in the Fla Keys (probably the second most common species behind the Fla, or Spiny, Lobster) where we do our hunting. However, they are not what we are typically looking for you just sometimes stumble across them.

Just to give a little more info Spanish lobster have no season and no size limit. They are extremely quick but are also very good eating. They are typically smaller than the Fla Lobster that we typically catch.

You can tell a Spanish Lobster by the Large amount of white spots they have covering their entire body.

THE BEST TIME OF THE YEAR

I figured I would kick off the written entries. So Mini Season is officially my favorite time of the year. It is really the only thing I start counting down for the day after it ends. Hell, I even justify doing other things because of mini season....for example doing breathing exercises during yoga to prep the lungs. I used to jump in captain Awesome's pool and just dive down and hold my breath as long as I could as "training."

Good times...

5 MONTHS TO GO

In the spirit of the Olympics.

TEASER #1

In 2010 a new breed of lobster hunter will be born.

6 MONTHS TO GO

It's already starting to warm up down here.