Treasures of the deep

SUE LAWRENCE TAKES YOU STEP-BY-STEP THROUGH PREPARING AND COOKING ONE OF SCOTLAND'S GREAT DELIGHTS – ITS SEAFOOD

The trick is never to look it in the eye. It's fine when the fishmonger lines it up with its mates on the slab to see which one is biggest and the odd tentacle waves at you anonymously. But when he – no, never call it he or she, always it – is relaxing alone on your kitchen table, looking very laid back (rubber bands permitting), that is when the trouble can really begin.

Provided you have no eye contact, however, the deed should be less painful for you. And hopefully as painless as possible for the lobster.

Now, before you start panicking about cruelty to lobsters, I should point out that even a small lobster (600 - 700 g / 1 - 11/2 lb) has lived for three to five years. Larger ones can live up to 10 years and still be good to eat.

There has even been the odd 40 or 50-year old found shambling about the deep rocky coves. There is surely no more free-range existence for a “cavey”, as they are sometimes called in Scotland, than living happy and free in the rocky coves or tiny caves some 50 metres under the sea. Their relatively long life still seems to me leagues better than that of a battery hen stuck in cage, laying eggs to order. At least there is dignity to the life of a lobster.

And so it is with dignity that they should be dispatched. It is recommended that lobsters are placed in the freezer for two hours, until their temperature is at -20°C, by which stage they will be rendered unconscious and insensible to pain. After its little sojourn in the freezer, it s...

To read the rest of this article you can do any of the following.

• By : Sue Lawrence
• In : Food
• Issue : 10
• Page : 60
• Words : 1,123