How to Crack a Lobster

Our fishmongers are of course always on hand to crack and dress a cooked lobster for you, but if you’d like to have a go at doing it yourself, don’t be daunted by those large claws and that tough, spiny shell! It’s not as hard as it might seem – just follow the steps below, and enjoy a delicious reward when you’ve finished the job.

It’s worth using a lobster pick if you have one, as it can be a little fiddly to remove some of the meat, but a skewer or small knife is fine if not. You will also need a heavy rolling pin or similar.

STEP 1

Start with a freshly cooked lobster; give it a quick rinse under cold running water, then pat dry and place flat, stomach-side down, on a chopping board. Place one hand on top of the animal’s back and grip the tail in the other, then lift and twist the tail firmly but gently to pull it away from the body. It should separate fairly easily, with a cracking noise. Set the tail aside.

STEP 2

Next, take the head and body part of the lobster, and remove the large front claws by snapping the legs off at the point where they meet the animal’s body. Set them aside.

STEP 3

There is a small amount of meat in the head - if you want to remove it, turn the head upside down and use a pick or skewer to scrape the meat out. Discard the head, or place in a dish for later use (see note about stock, below).

STEP 4

Now take the tail. Unroll it until it is straight, not curled, then lie it on its side on your board. Use your hands to press down hard on the shell until you hear it crack; it will split open along the length of the tail. Pull the shell carefully away from the sides of the tail, rather like shelling a large prawn (if the belly shell has not split fully open, you can use a sturdy pair of scissors to cut through it). Try to keep the tail meat intact in one large piece, if you can.

STEP 5

When you get to the fan-like tail flukes, press down hard with your hands where the flukes join the tail, snapping the shell and freeing the tail meat completely.

STEP 6

Next, take one of the front claws you removed from the body earlier. Snap the pincers away from the leg part (or ‘knuckle’), and set the legs aside. Hold one set of pincers in your hand and pull the smaller pincer until it snaps off (set aside the larger pincer for now). Remove the blade-shaped piece of cartilage from inside the small pincer, then use a skewer or a lobster pick to remove the meat. Repeat for the other set of pincers.

STEP 6

To remove the meat from the larger pincers, work with one pincer at a time. Lie it flat and hold it down carefully at the tip (with care, as this part of the lobster can be sharp), then use a heavy, blunt instrument like a rolling pin to hit the main part of the shell with a couple of hard, quick blows. Turn the claw over and repeat for the other side. The pincer shell will crack open, allowing you to extract the meat in one piece (if not, hit it again until it does). Repeat for the remaining large pincer.

STEP 7

Take the pieces of leg (knuckles) and use a sharp knife to make an incision down through the shell. Snap the knuckles in half, then use your skewer or lobster pick to reach back into the shell and scrape out the meat.

STEP 8

Do a thorough check-through of all the meat for any rogue pieces of shell.

STEP 9

That’s it! You can now serve and enjoy your lobster in any way you choose.

To avoid waste, you can bag and freeze any large pieces of lobster shell, plus the head and tail, then use them to make a wonderful fish stock at a later date.