Lobster History 2

The Lobster

Long ago, lobsters were so plentiful that Native Americans used them to fertilize their fields and to bait their hooks for fishing. In colonial times, lobsters were considered "poverty food." They were harvested from tidal pools and served to children, to prisoners, and to indentured servants, who exchanged their passage to America for seven years of service to their sponsors. In Massachusetts, some of the servants finally rebelled. They had it put into their contracts that they would not be forced to eat lobster more than three times a week.

Early 1800s

Until the early 1800s, lobstering was done by gathering them by hand along the shoreline. Lobstering as a trap fishery came into existence around 1850. Though the number of lobstermen has increased dramatically, the amount of lobsters caught has remained relatively steady.

The first lobster pound

The first lobster pound appeared around 1875 and others quickly followed. Lobster pounds work in the same manner as the smack boats (Smacks were small sailing vessels with a tank inside the boat that had holes drilled into it to allow sea water to circulate. The smacks were used to transport live lobsters over long distances.)The first lobster pound was in a deep tidal creek, but today they are more common on docks floating in the harbor. Using the pound, dealers can wait for the price of lobster to increase or allow a newly-molted lobster time to harden its shell.

Smackmen

By the 1930s, the traveling smackmen were being replaced by local, land-based buyers who served as the link between the harvesters and the public. The buyer purchased lobsters from a harvester who in turn bought fuel, bait, and other gear from the buyer. The local buyer then either sold the lobsters to people who came down to the docks or turned them over to a regional dealer who sent the lobsters out of province.

Lobster Canning

In response to demand for lobster that exceeded the range of the smack boats, lobsters were canned beginning in 1836. Canning the lobsters overcame some of the difficulties associated with shipping lobsters, and by the second half of the 19th century the value of canned lobster had surpassed that of live lobster. The canneries were so efficient at processing the lobsters that they were soon forced to work with smaller lobsters. In 1860,four to five pound lobsters were considered small and the two pound lobsters were being discarded as not worth the effort to pick the meat for canning. Only twenty years later, the canneries were stuffing meat from half-pound lobsters into the tins for processing.

Lobster a delicacy

During World War II lobster was considered a delicacy, and consequently was not rationed. Thus lobster meat filled the increasing demand for protein-rich food. People could afford it because of the boom of the war-time economy. Although there was a decline in lobster purchases immediately after the war, lobster consumption rapidly rebounded. In the years between 1950 and 1969, per capita lobster consumption increased from .585 pounds (live weight) to .999 pounds. At the same time the cost of lobster outpaced inflation, increasing profits for lobstermen and thereby encouraging more people to join the industry.

How to Eat Lobster

What is the best lobster to eat?


Lobster is one of the few meal choices that invites you to choose your own victim. While there are some restaurants where you can pick out your own steak, it's not like seeing the whole cow. With lobsters, you do see the whole thing.

This leaves the diner with several tough decisions:
o Should you have a soft-shell or a hard-shell lobster?
o Will a large lobster be as tender as a small lobster?
o Should you choose a male or a female?
o Should you choose a green lobster or a red one?

The Shedders

"Most people in the industry prefer the new shell: the 'shedders.' Their meat is sweet, and the shells are easy to break apart." However, others claim hard-shelled lobsters are better because the meat is firmer and there is more of it than in a newly-molted lobster. Of course, you have to expect that the shell will not be crammed full of lobster meat in a 'shedder.' Lobster dealers sometimes refer to soft-shell lobsters as "low quality". It's not that they don't taste as good, but rather that in their weakened post-molt condition, these lobsters don't transport well. So if you plan to take a lobster home, a hard-shell lobster travels best. Large lobsters taste as good as small ones "until you get to 5 to 7 pounds. Then the meat gets kind of stringy." Advocates of tail meat recommend getting a female whose tail is broader than a male's of equal size since she uses the space to carry her eggs. The best time to buy lobsters is in the fall, after Labor Day, when all the tourists have gone home and the lobster landings are at their highest. Because lobster meat can go bad quickly, it's generally necessary to cook a lobster while it's still alive. That means you pick a green lobster, but don't eat it until its shell turns red! Never eat a cooked lobster with its tail uncurled, as it died before it was cooked.

What is the best way to cook a lobster?

How to cook a lobster in the most humane manner has been a concern of guilt-ridden chefs for generations. In order to put the matter to a rest scientifically, one researcher instructed his graduate students to boil lobsters after having subjected them to various relaxation techniques. The students determined which method of dispatching them was the kindest by counting the number of tails flicks heard in the kettle before each lobster succumbed to the boiling water. They tried hyponotizing the subjects (rubbing their backs until they stood on their heads), soaking them in fresh water, heating them slowly from room temperature to boiling, and other accepted strategies. They found that putting them in the fridge before cooking to numb them up, (as happens naturally in winter), resulted in the lowest number of tail twitches. So, according to modern science, a few minutes in the freezer means less agony in the kettle. The most common way to cook lobster is to steam it in sea water (or salted water) for 10-15 minutes.

How to eat lobster?

What better place to discuss lobster anatomy than at the dinner table? The first thing to do when your cooked lobster arrives is turn it over and announce whether it is a male or a female.

How can you tell?

The swimmerets, the small feathery appendages on the underside of the tail, will provide the answer. The first pair of swimmerets closest to the body are hard and bony on a male, and soft and feathery like the rest of the swimmerets, on a female. Only the female has a small rectangular shield between her second pair of walking legs. This is the sperm receptacle where she stores the sperm after mating until she lays her eggs. A female also has a wider tail than a comparably-sized male. She needs the breadth for carrying all those eggs.

Most people start by breaking off the legs. Holding the lobster by the back, gently pull off the legs with a twisting motion. Don't throw these away: there are plenty of delicious morsels inside!

Next, take off the claws, which are also called chelipeds. Tear them off at the first joint, again with a gentle twisting motion, and note that the crusher claw usually is bigger than the tearing claw. Gently remove the loose part of the claw. Again, check for especially tasty morsels in small parts!

Using a nutcracker, break off the tip of the large section of claw, revealing the meat. With your forefinger, push the meat from the tip of the claw out the larger open end. Notice the mouth parts, antennae, antennules, and rostrum or beak, all of which are inedible. Grasp the tail portion with one hand, and the back with the other hand.

Twist to separate the two sections. After that, turn to end of the tail which has small flippers, or telsons, at the base.These provide tasty if miniscule chunks of meat to those who don't mind a little extra work. Arguably, the best part of the lobster (the debate rages between tail lovers and claw lovers) is the tail meat. Then insert your fingers into the telson end to push the tail meat out intact through the larger opening. Peel off the top of the tail to reveal the digestive tract, which should be removed before eating the rest of the tail meat.

Intrepid diners who explore further find small chunks of meat inside the carapace, the hard shell or body of the lobster. They may also encounter the gills, the circulation system, and green "tomalley"(the digestive gland) and in a female lobster, red "coral" or "roe" (the unfertilized eggs). Hard-core lobster lovers eat the latter two. It's the lobster's liver or more accurately, its digestive system. Although many people like to eat the "tomalley" it probably isn't a good idea because this is where pollution in the lobster's own meal choices would become concentrated in the lobster's body.

What's the red stuff?

It's the roe, the unfertilized eggs of the female. Lobster eggs were once considered a delicacy, like caviar. The roe is also called "coral" because of its bright red color.

What is the nutritional value of lobster?

Nutrition studies show that 3 1/2 ounces of lobster meat (without the butter) contains only 90 calories, compared to 163 calories for the same amount of chicken and 280 calories for sirloin steak. Lobster also contains omega-3 fatty acids, the "good " cholesterol that seems to reduce hardening of the arteries and decrease the risk of heart attacks.

Can you eat lobster when there is a shellfish ban?

Yes. Lobsters, unlike mussels, oysters, and clams, are not "filter feeders." Filter feeders pump sea water, and any plankton or pollution it carries, through their bodies. Any toxins in the water will be concentrated in their flesh. Meat eaters like lobsters, crabs, and fish do not filter plankton from sea water, so they are safe to eat during an outbreak of red tide.