As you might suspect, about the only time that my WSM gets inactive is when I get to cook something that wouldn't be so good on it. So I won the annual 2$ raffle in work and won this massive 6+ pound bug. The cutting board is about 18x24. The claw was bigger than my hand!!!!
Into the steamer basket. I had about 3 inches of salted water in my 60 qt pot getting hot.
While he was taking a steam bath, I made a French butter sauce for the claws. Simply fantastic stuff. Vermouth, a shot of wine vinegar, clove of garlic, a pinch of tarragon, and a handfull of green onion. Those ingredients are cooked down by half, then a full stick of butter is melted into it a little at a time. Thank you Julia!
The big boy with a steam tan. He spent 27 minutes in the pot. I figured there is close to 31/2 lbs of meat inside his shell.
The shells on the claws were rock hard, but a few whacks with a hammer opened 'em up nicely. I learned my lesson long ago that you should wear heavy gloves breaking these big'uns apart. All those little horns on the shell can be sharp and will tear your hands into ribbons. After cleaning up some, the meat went into the pot to keep warm. I had made a pot of angel hair pasta to serve along with the meat, but I never made it that far. The meat was very tender. The rest of the lobster went into various things.
One thing that I did make on the WSM with it was a crostini type thing. I sliced up the tail meat thin and put 'em on disks of french bread. A little sprinkle of Old Bay + black pepper, and topped with shredded zucchini. I got the WSM hot and put on a couple handfulls of cherry wood. The idea was to do a very quick smoke & reheat. As it turned out, the zuchinni sucked up a lot of smoke flavoring... enough that the lobster was nicely flavored without too much smoke.
Thanks for looking, Jim S.
Into the steamer basket. I had about 3 inches of salted water in my 60 qt pot getting hot.
While he was taking a steam bath, I made a French butter sauce for the claws. Simply fantastic stuff. Vermouth, a shot of wine vinegar, clove of garlic, a pinch of tarragon, and a handfull of green onion. Those ingredients are cooked down by half, then a full stick of butter is melted into it a little at a time. Thank you Julia!
The big boy with a steam tan. He spent 27 minutes in the pot. I figured there is close to 31/2 lbs of meat inside his shell.
The shells on the claws were rock hard, but a few whacks with a hammer opened 'em up nicely. I learned my lesson long ago that you should wear heavy gloves breaking these big'uns apart. All those little horns on the shell can be sharp and will tear your hands into ribbons. After cleaning up some, the meat went into the pot to keep warm. I had made a pot of angel hair pasta to serve along with the meat, but I never made it that far. The meat was very tender. The rest of the lobster went into various things.
One thing that I did make on the WSM with it was a crostini type thing. I sliced up the tail meat thin and put 'em on disks of french bread. A little sprinkle of Old Bay + black pepper, and topped with shredded zucchini. I got the WSM hot and put on a couple handfulls of cherry wood. The idea was to do a very quick smoke & reheat. As it turned out, the zuchinni sucked up a lot of smoke flavoring... enough that the lobster was nicely flavored without too much smoke.
Thanks for looking, Jim S.
