How often do you eat lobster at home?

[Mike981]

In all of my years of cruising AND following along on-line for all cruise discussions, I feel lobster talk is right up there in the top five questions/comments.

 

Is it because it is a novelty, people just love lobster that much, or a mix of the two. We mostly travel in the Caribbean and you know we are not talking Main lobster there, warm lobster and small so we never get it. It just isn't that good to us. Trust me, if we could pick Main lobster it would be definitely ordered.

 

[NotADopey1]

We have lobster 2-3 times a year.  Maine or cold water lobster.  We don’t care for warm water lobster.  And the few times we ate lobster on a cruise many years ago, it was so over cooked and dry no amount of butter could revive it

[mom says]

Having lived on the east coast in the past, with easy availability of cold water lobster,  I've never understood why people seem to lose their minds when it comes to the overcooked, rubbery, flavorless rock lobster tails served once a week in the MDRs. Maybe these people have never had a chance to taste a properly cooked cold water lobster. We usually only have it once a  year. Although I will admit to using a lobster tail for lobster Mac n cheese. 

[Aquahound]

We lived in the Florida Keys for 20 years and I could pull lobsters out of my canal seawall.  Plus, I had a ton of honey-holes marked on my GPS.  We ate so much lobster, seasoned the way we liked, that we never ordered it on ships.

 

But we moved out of the Keys about 8 years ago and we are just now getting to where we order it. It's still not a preference though.  

[sparks1093]

DW is allergic to shellfish so I rarely eat it at home. Every now and then I'll have the market steam one and I'll eat it in the backyard. The lobster onboard isn't Maine lobster but it's ok for what it is.

[Donald]

If you cruise on a good cruise line, the lobster served will be “Maine” - although quite often it will be officially “Canadian”, as the cost is generally lower.

If you are one of those rabid lobster passengers, this is another good reason to spend a bit more for a smaller ship on a better cruise line.

[wcook]

I remember once as a kid 40+ years ago having Lobster at home. Since then, never. I’ve had Lobster many times at restaurants, especially s at lobster shacks on the coast in Maine. I think in all my years of cruising I’ve had cruise lobster once. As a New Englander, I guess I’m a snob - cruise lobster ain’t lobster. 

[George C]

Never had lobster at home , eat in at least once a month in restaurants, love lobster rolls , celebrity serves lobster rolls on embarkation day in suite restaurant, I have a big birthday next week will talk to restaurant manager to make sure it is on the menu. 

[Shmoo here]

How often do you eat lobster at home?

Never.

[leaveitallbehind]

We like lobster in various offerings a few of times a year at one or two restaurants, and typically only if it is Maine lobster.  But never at home.

 

Relative to a cruise discussion, we avoid the poor facsimile of anything that would be called "lobster" offered in most mass market MDR's. Many years ago it was pretty good, but in recent years, no way. Don't get the hype!

 

There are a coupe of specialty restaurants (150 Central Park on RCCL, Murano on Celebrity as a couple of examples) that would be the exception to this, however.  I am sure the smaller ship premium lines would also be a an exception. JMO

Edited June 13 by leaveitallbehind

[Mary229]

I don’t eat lobster or scallops unless I am up north. Down south we eat shrimp, oysters and fish.  I like my seafood fresh

[KreinKrunker]

1 hour ago, Shmoo here said:

How often do you eat lobster at home?

Never.

Ditto!

[K32682]

We have friends in Nova Scotia who will air freight live lobsters on ice to us upon request. We might do it once a year. I don't like cooking them, eating them tends to be an unholy mess and unless it's wrapped very tightly you do not want what's left over from a lobster dinner in your household garbage for very long.   

[clo]

3 hours ago, mom says said:

Having lived on the east coast in the past, with easy availability of cold water lobster,  I've never understood why people seem to lose their minds when it comes to the overcooked, rubbery, flavorless rock lobster tails served once a week in the MDRs. Maybe these people have never had a chance to taste a properly cooked cold water lobster. We usually only have it once a  year. Although I will admit to using a lobster tail for lobster Mac n cheese. 

Maybe like us in the West. Dungeness crab has a 'season' and we don't take advantage of that more than once or twice a year. But we've become accustomed to freshly cooked - preferably by us - and that can be tough to find. But yum.

[clo]

2 hours ago, George C said:

Never had lobster at home , eat in at least once a month in restaurants, love lobster rolls , celebrity serves lobster rolls on embarkation day in suite restaurant, I have a big birthday next week will talk to restaurant manager to make sure it is on the menu. 

Oh, now lobster rolls are wonderful. I'm kinda betting that the lobster doesn't have to be perfect. I prefer the Maine ones with mayo.

[clo]

35 minutes ago, Mary229 said:

I don’t eat lobster or scallops unless I am up north. Down south we eat shrimp, oysters and fish.  I like my seafood fresh

I didn't realize that scallops and oysters were regional in your part of the country. Here in the Pacific Northwest everything is (pretty much) available.

[clo]

3 hours ago, Aquahound said:

We lived in the Florda Keys for 20 years and I could pull lobsters out of my canal seawall.  Plus, I had a ton of honey-holes marked on my GPS.  We ate so much lobster, seasoned the way we liked, that we never ordered it on ships.

 

But we moved out of the Keys about 8 years ago and we are just now getting to where we order it. It's still not a preference though.  

Oh wow. We had friends who lived on a canal in the Keys and I'm guessing they didn't know that or weren't interested. Boy, I would have been. But we had a dinner of local shrimp, just boiled, that was huge and wonderful.

[navybankerteacher]

In coastal New England lobster is not that special - there have been times when catches are so great that prices seriously drop.  We have it at least a couple of times a month at home.  It’s important to put the lobsters 🦞  to sleep by rubbing them on the back with a pencil for a couple of minutes.  They do not feel it when they go in the boiling water, don’t thrash about, and come out more tender.  Attached picture (sadly upside down) shows hyptonized lobster ready for his hot bath -  good way to win a side bet with dinner guests who do not believe you can make a lobster stand on his head.

[George C]

9 minutes ago, clo said:

I didn't realize that scallops and oysters were regional in your part of the country. Here in the Pacific Northwest everything is (pretty much) available.

We have a nice seafood restaurant close and they always have oysters, they tell us where they came from sometimes east coast sometimes west cost . 

[navybankerteacher]

10 minutes ago, clo said:

I didn't realize that scallops and oysters were regional in your part of the country. Here in the Pacific Northwest everything is (pretty much) available.

Scallops and oysters (in particular) are best from cooler waters.  I think Chesapeake Bay is southern limit for oysters - and the best, in my view, are Wellfleet, from the bay side oh Cape Cod.

[clo]

4 minutes ago, navybankerteacher said:

Scallops and oysters (in particular) are best from cooler waters.  I think Chesapeake Bay is southern limit for oysters - and the best, in my view, are Wellfleet, from the bay side oh Cape Cod.

I don't know about scallops but here it seems most oysters - at least in restaurants - are farmed. And wonderful.

[mom says]

2 hours ago, K32682 said:

We have friends in Nova Scotia who will air freight live lobsters on ice to us upon request. We might do it once a year. I don't like cooking them, eating them tends to be an unholy mess and unless it's wrapped very tightly you do not want what's left over from a lobster dinner in your household garbage for very long.   

The trick is to take all the waste: shells, newspaper, etc, put them in a plastic bag. Tie it tightly. Then throw it in the deep freezer until trash day.

[ldubs]

We never eat lobster at home.  I have not ordered a lobster tail on a cruise ship for many years.  They are a novelty, but they are not especially delicious to me.   I've enjoyed lobster rolls on shore and I think a lobster poor boy would be good too.  

 

I recommend they be killed quickly before dumping them in boiling water.     

[DarrenM]

I have never eaten Lobster at home. Would cost a ridiculous amount to buy, and would leave me hungry.

[chengkp75]

We have it several times a summer.  Current price is $6.99/lb, or $8 to $10 a lobster, buy them from the garage lobster pound on the way to the lake house and boil them in the gas lobster pot/turkey fryer.  Probably once a year we do a full "lobster bake", with potatoes, corn, shrimp, clams, lobster.

 

Even those cruise lines that offer "Maine" lobster, it is still frozen, unless served within a day or two of embarkation.  Freezing changes the consistency of the flesh.  Also, they tend to broil the tails, which is fine if you pay close attention to each tail as it cooks to prevent overcooking, but when you are using a convection oven that holds over a hundred tails, that just isn't done, resulting in overcooking the tails.  And, my favorite is claw meat, much better than the tail.

 

As for scallops, the key there is to get "dry packed" scallops, those that have a bit of a "mahogany" hue to them, not the juicy white ones.  Only dry scallops can be seared, and that is the only way to really enjoy scallops.

7 hours ago, mom says said:

The trick is to take all the waste: shells, newspaper, etc, put them in a plastic bag. Tie it tightly. Then throw it in the deep freezer until trash day.

Or just take it out to the back lot and dump it and let the wildlife enjoy.