Could YOU Boil A Lobster Alive?

HellsKitchenmanNYC

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For some reason seeing this commercial for Julia and Julie makes me relive of this memory I have alot of my father throwing lobsters into an enormous pot of boiling water. The sound of them clawing at the pot to get out is still etched in my brain like it was yesterday. Consequently I've never ever been able to eat any lobster from the shell. I've barely managed to be able to force even the smallest piece of lobster in my mouth w/o that exact memory coming back to me.
For some reason it's different that making clams or steamers I guess because they don't try to fight back and Disney hasn't made one into a lasting character. Even growing up w/a beach house and a huge family that regularly went 'clamming' and having huge clambakes never made me want to eat lobster. I just cannot do it.
I guess if I had been a butcher I'd never want a steak but I'm not a butcher. I don't think I could ever bring myself to throw a live lobster into a boiling pot of water.....esp w/those little elastics on it's poor claws. Just imagine if they had voices and you had to hear them scream before you threw them in! **shudders**:mad:
 

D_Tintagel_Demondong

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I don't think I could. Do they really scream?

I'm not a sappy tree hugger... I just can't stand cruelty or suffering.

I don't even eat lobster, mostly because of how they are caught, captivated, then cooked.

And, they smell like urine.
 

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I live on the New England coast and, sure, I've boiled many, many lobsters. If you hold it across the carapace (their back) and stick them in head first in rolling boiling water, there's not too much of a fight. If you use a big pot and only fill it to about 4 inches from the top much there is less splashing of the boiling water. I also keep the lid close by and if necessary hold it down as quickly as I can to keep the tails from splashing.
 

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HellsKitchenmanNYC, rex2000, mitchymo you are 3 of my fave men here; and I am sorely disappointed to learn that y'all are not the macho he-men of my dreams but a bunch of namby-pamby wusses. :frown1: :crying:.

I grew up as they say back home, in New Jersey, 'down the shore.' By 9 I was fully capable of cooking a live lobster as well as an overly active, bushel basket of blue claw crabs. They don't scream. :rolleyes: Nor do shrimp, clams, crayfish, or oysters. They also do not look at you with googly eyes, pleading not to cook and eat them; because they are NOT Disney cartoons. :mad:

Get over it! :irked: On second thought, don't. :smile: Continue on your shellfish free, wuss diet and just pass me the butter and a lemon. I'll take care of the rest. :biggrin1: :cool:
 

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For some reason seeing this commercial for Julia and Julie makes me relive of this memory I have alot of my father throwing lobsters into an enormous pot of boiling water. The sound of them clawing at the pot to get out is still etched in my brain like it was yesterday. Consequently I've never ever been able to eat any lobster from the shell. I've barely managed to be able to force even the smallest piece of lobster in my mouth w/o that exact memory coming back to me.
For some reason it's different that making clams or steamers I guess because they don't try to fight back and Disney hasn't made one into a lasting character. Even growing up w/a beach house and a huge family that regularly went 'clamming' and having huge clambakes never made me want to eat lobster. I just cannot do it.
I guess if I had been a butcher I'd never want a steak but I'm not a butcher. I don't think I could ever bring myself to throw a live lobster into a boiling pot of water.....esp w/those little elastics on it's poor claws. Just imagine if they had voices and you had to hear them scream before you threw them in! **shudders**:mad:

I have never worked in slaughterhouses.

But I will say that I have boiled a fresh lobster. I have even made Low Country Boil (Frogmore Stew). Vegetables and fruits are living things as well. They may not yell OUCH when you cook vegetables...that is the way. I love vegetables as well as meat, poultry, seafood. I don't eat any meat raw. Because of parasite infestation issues. I cook all meat according to well done temperatures which is about 170 degrees Fahrenheit.

Cougars. Bears. Sharks. Boa Constrictors. Lions, Hyenas. They don't ponder these things. They will kill you, eat you and you become fodder for living things.
 
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HellsKitchenmanNYC

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NJGT first thx for the compliment. From now on you are my cook! It's the lobsters only really. Arghhhhh that noise of the claws on the pot in the water. Why is it that lobsters can't be bought dead already and cooked.
Thk god I guess someone has the constitution to do this as I cannaot. I do eat the other shellfish except crabs b/c I couldn't throw them in either.
 

lookingforhung

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It's funny.

In my country (back home) we eat liver paste..I use to bring that to school as a sandwich and one guy almost threw up when i said what it was. It's hilarious.

I can slaugther anything. And no issues doing that with lobsters. It's not an issue at all.
 

invisibleman

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NJGT first thx for the compliment. From now on you are my cook! It's the lobsters only really. Arghhhhh that noise of the claws on the pot in the water. Why is it that lobsters can't be bought dead already and cooked.
Thk god I guess someone has the constitution to do this as I cannaot.

Oh, you can. You can even get the fish monger to boil the lobsters for you. My uncle in Hampton, Va. got me some delicious fresh boiled king crabs seasoned perfect at the fish monger he uses.

 

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i love lobster, but rarely eat it...it is to me maybe a once a year treat...they do not in fact scream, the whistling sound that is heard is the sound of the thin layer of water between their shell...

on this topic, some of you may like this article...it is relatively well known and was written by the late and very talented and funny author David Foster Wallace...

the article was written in an issue of Gourmet Magazine when he was hired to go visit a lobster festival in Maine

it is a fantastic article, about the ethics of boiling a lobster alive, even from the standpoint of a meat eater like him or other folks who enjoy meat, but do question the ethics etc...it really is a great article...I highly recommend you read it...

it is entitled "Consider The Lobster" (this is also the name of the collection of essays book that Wallace published in 2005, which contains the original article)

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/images/x2/x10782.jpg

Consider the Lobster: 2000s Archive : gourmet.com
 

Principessa

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]NJQT first thx for the compliment. From now on you are my cook! It's the lobsters only really. Arghhhhh that noise of the claws on the pot in the water. Why is it that lobsters can't be bought dead already and cooked. [/B]
Thk god I guess someone has the constitution to do this as I cannot. I do eat the other shellfish except crabs b/c I couldn't throw them in either.
Good thing you weren't around me during the summers of 89 & 90. My friend's boyfriend and his friend would go scuba diving/spear fishing and bring us back fresh lobster for dinner every weekend in the summer. While they were out she and I would go to the flea market and then the butcher shop to pick up fresh steaks, corn, and potatoes. Sometimes we would make Texas toast, too. Good times :biggrin1:

A lobster attacked me just yesterday. Luckily, I had my taser gun handy. I'll never go to that laundromat again.
You silly goose. :tongue:

 

D_Tintagel_Demondong

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I cringe when people "disneyize" animals. I am around animals almost 100% of my non-job time. They just don't equate emotions like people do.

You mean you don't give them cute names and put adorable dresses and rhinestone collars on them?

I try to not anthropomorphize any animal, but I still don't like seeing a creature suffer, even a dumb lobster.

Also, their mercury content is way too high for me, even the 'safer' ones.

Then again, I eat beef. I know how they slaughter the cows. I guess that makes me a hypocrite. Meh.
 
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tallguybry

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I CANT DO IT!!

I too was traumatized when I was young. I was in 6th or 7th grade, when my parents picked up a large Maine lobster. I remember playing with it in the kitchen sink. The next thing I recall is me watching my Dad put the lobster in the pot. I heard it scream as it was going in the water!!

I love lobster, but just can't play the part of the "murderer"!

Bry
 

mitchymo

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HellsKitchenmanNYC, rex2000, mitchymo you are 3 of my fave men here; and I am sorely disappointed to learn that y'all are not the macho he-men of my dreams but a bunch of namby-pamby wusses. :frown1: :crying:.

Awww :sad2: But if my life depended on it i'd have no trouble dunking it in and holding it there with my bare hand if necessary but until then i'm gonna have to go sit in a corner and make like a namby pamby :baby: