How to Buy Live Lobster

Unless you set your own lobster traps, you'll need to rely on someone else to provide your lobster. That means that there will be a bit of a delay between trap and table. This page will help you learn how to buy live lobster, detailing some things you can look for to make sure its fresh and tasty.

How a Lobster Trap Works

This video has a Maine lobsterman describing how a lobster trap works. You'll learn how a lobster moves from the "kitchen" in to the "parlor" to be trapped so that the lobster can eventually wind up on your table. He poins out that although they hope to pull up a fell trap every time they haul them in, sometimes they just find a couple of crabs, and no lobsters.

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Introduction
- Lobster is generally prepared simply, being boiled or steamed, and served with melted butter as its only accessory. This means that the primary determinant of how good the lobster will taste is the lobster itself —and the most important way to make sure you get a good tasting lobster is to get a fresh lobster.
Step 1: Don't Buy a Supermarket Lobster
- If you live in Iowa, and have decided you must have lobster for dinner tonight, buying a supermarket lobster may be your only choice. This is generally not a good choice, however, as its probably been a while since a supermarket lobster has been crawling around the ocean floor. As soon as a lobster is taken out of its natural environment, the meat begins to degrade. Supermarket lobsters may have been through 3 or 4 different suppliers, over the course of several days to a week, on their journey to a tank at the Piggly Wiggly. If you do need to purchase a supermarket lobster, cook it as soon as possible after you get it home.
Step 2: How to Pick a Fresh Lobster
- The best way to purchase a fresh lobster, is to buy it from a reliable lobster pound or seafood market who receive their lobsters daily. If you're lucky enough to have a good source of fresh lobster near you, there are several things you should look for when determining which lobsters will be awarded the privilege of gracing your dinner table that evening.
Lobster Size
- Lobster pounds will generally have lobsters ranging from 1 to 3 pounds. Although you get more value for your dollar with larger crustaceans, lobsters under two pounds generally have the tenderest meat. If you're boiling the lobster, they are cooked based on the size of an individual lobster, so you'll want them all to be around the same size, as a 1 pound lobster only requires 8 minutes, while a 2 pound lobster needs to be boiled for 16 minutes. A 1 1/4 - 1 1/2 pound lobster is generally a good choice.
Lobster Color
- Live lobsters are not red—lobsters only turn red when cooked. The color of a live lobster can be green, black, brown, yellow, white, or even blue. The color doesn't affect the taste of the meat.
Lobster Activity
- Fresh lobsters are active and vigorous. The colder a lobster is, the more sluggish it will be, so it doesn't necessarily mean that a lobster isn't fresh if all the lobsters in the tank seem to be moving slowly. In order to assess whether a lobster is still lively, pick it up. The tail should curl and flap around. Uncurl the tail, and make sure it curls back up when you release it. If the tail just hangs there, pass that lobster by.
Hard-Shell vs. Soft-Shell
- Lobsters, like all crustaceans, molt when they outgrow their shell. Lobsters who are about to outgrow their shell are called hard-shells, lobsters who have just molted and have thin new shells are called soft-shells. Both types of lobsters have their fans, with some preferring one over the other. One thing to remember is that soft-shells have empty space between the shell and the meat, meaning that they contain a lot of water. Expect to pay less for soft-shells, as you get less meat per pound.
Step 3: Mail Order Lobster
- If you don't live within driving distance of Maine or Canada's maritime provinces, your best bet for fresh live lobster may be mail order. These lobsters are usually packed and shipped soon after they are taken off the boat, bypassing the middlemen who slow down the transport of supermarket lobsters.
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