Food is always a matter of life and death. For most of our lives we don’t ever have to think about this. We eat three or four times a day without thinking about what animal or vegetable gave its life to us.
Whether it’s a lamb or a lobster, everything must cease living to ensure our continued survival as a species. Though I don’t believe that everyone who eats beef should have to kill a cow with their own hands, I am of the opinion that they should at least be able to watch it.
If you don't have the stomach for that, then I suggest you go out and slaughter yourself a few baby leeks and stay away from animal protein. The Swedish chef Magnus Nilsson called this a "driving licence" to eat meat. To paraphrase: "If you eat it, you should at best kill it, and if you can't do that, then at least watch it being killed."
All of this came to me while I was demonstrating how to kill a lobster during one of our fish cooking courses in Aniar. I always start off the class with how to cook a lobster.
Why? Because it’s fundamental. How did we kill it? With a knife through the head. The lobster is killed immediately. Furthermore, the person killing the lobster is intimately aware of the act. Putting the lobster in the freezer is just another way of ignoring its death.
To cook the lobster, I remove the claws from the body, because they cook at different times to each other. In a pot of salted boiling water, I cook the tail for three minutes and the claw for four. Then swiftly out and into an ice bath.
Allow the lobster to cool before cracking it open. As with all other Irish seafood, I like to season it simply: a little salt, a little oil and a little vinegar.
If you made elderflower pickle, the liquid would dress the lobster beautifully.
Gently cut your lobster into bite-size pieces and serve with some peas and radishes.
