Lobster and soup

Lobster

In the quite rare occasion that the fish stall in the market has a lobster, I will happily buy it, to support them and to enjoy a treat.

1. I like to plain cook the lobster, meaning bring a big pot of water to boil with ginger, spring onion and salt. Put the lobster in, upside down, head first and put the lid on. When the water is back to boil, switch off heat and let it soak for 10 minutes (this is a one kg lobster). 

plain cooked lobster

2. When it is cool to handle, cut lobster head off carefully, pour the juice and uncooked green fat into a pan.

3. Take the flesh out from the tail, serve as such, it is sweeter cold than hot. Or cut into slices and sear in butter.

4. Place the lobster shell (remove gills and stomach sac in the head) in a baking tray and bake at 180˚C for 30 minutes, or longer for a more roasted taste.

lobster shell stock

5. Put the roasted shells (easy to break into smaller pieces after roasting) in a pan, cover with water, add slices of ginger, tbsp of Sichuan pepper, couple of star anise, peppercorn, salt and tbsp of brown sugar, feel free to add meat bones to enrich it.

6. Simmer for 2 hours with lid on to extract all flavors.

7. Sieve out shells and spices, add the lobster head juice and fat, bring to boil, season to taste. 

lobster soup

Frankly, I like lobster for the taste of lobster soup more than lobster meat.