I started out with a 1.68 lbs pound lobster I purchased today at Fairway in Brooklyn.
I dispatched this poor fellow by inserting my chef's knife in through his back, and chopping down through his head, cutting his head in half.* Threw him in a pot of boiling water for 2 minutes, then put him in an ice bath to stop the cooking.
This initial cooking was to make it easier to separate the meat from the shell. It didn't really cook the interior of the meat at all. I separated the meat from the shell, reserving the shells for a sauce. I'm really not too skilled at this, and I got covered in lobster bits here. I did manage to keep the claw meat intact when extracting it.
I sealed the meat in a plastic bag with about 3/4 of a stick of butter.
I cooked the meat at 140 degrees Fahrenheit for about 45 minutes. During this time I made a sauce from the shells, some onions, wine, cream, tomato paste (see the link above to the alcoholian for details, I didn't really photograph this).
I grilled some bread and drained the meat when I took it out of the bag.
I plated this by placing the lobster on the grilled bread, then topping that with the sauce and a sour cream/heavy cream/chive mixture (I didn't have time to make creme fraiche). I served this with some baby arugula tossed in olive oil and lemon juice.
The verdict: non-delicious. Firstly, there was way to much going on on this plate. I didn't need the bread and all the sauce and creme fraiche. Too busy. The lobster itself wasn't as delicate and perfectly cooked as I was hoping. Also, the flavour was a little too lobstery. I didn't have the rich flavour I was hoping for. All in all it was pretty ok, but not nearly as good as I was hoping.
* The actual killing of the lobster was a bit gruesome. I realized after the fact, that this was the largest animal that I had ever killed with my bare hands. After chopping the lobster's head in half the tail and little legs flailed around for about 30 seconds. I threw it in a pot of boiling water and it fought me a little bit even after being in the water for 30 seconds. I realized too that I've never really seen anything die up close. Maybe I didn't really kill it when I cut the head in half, or maybe this is just what things do when they die: the body continues fighting even after the brain is dead.
