Two very different products sold under one word — the clawed North Atlantic lobster and the clawless spiny lobster, which is all tail. Both go from sweet to rubbery in about ninety seconds, and the traditional hard boil is the most reliable way to overshoot.
The American or Maine lobster has two claws that do different jobs: a heavy crusher and a finer ripper, with different textures. The tail is the abdominal muscle used for the escape flick — fast-twitch, dense, the primary meat. There's more meat in the knuckles and body than people extract, and the tomalley (the green hepatopancreas) and roe are edible and prized, though the tomalley concentrates contaminants and should be eaten sparingly. Spiny lobsters have no claws at all; everything is tail. Shell hardness is the other variable: hard-shell lobsters have recently not moulted and are packed with meat, while soft-shells have just moulted, hold more water, and give noticeably less meat per pound.
Lobster muscle is lean and fine-grained with almost no fat or connective tissue, so it follows a narrow curve like a scallop rather than a forgiving one like a braising cut. The proteins set around 120-130°F and the meat is at its best there — sweet, tender, still slightly translucent at the very centre. Past about 140°F the fibers contract and expel water and the texture turns to the rubbery, squeaky consistency most people associate with lobster because most lobster is boiled to well past it. A hard boil holds 212°F against a small piece of lean muscle, which gives no margin at all — steaming, poaching in butter, or cooking sous vide all give considerably more control.
Steam transfers heat more gently than boiling water, which buys several minutes of margin on a cut that overshoots in ninety seconds.
HowTwo inches of heavily salted water, rack, lid, hard boil. Eight to nine minutes for a 1.25 lb lobster, adding roughly a minute per quarter pound. Pull at 135°F in the thickest part of the tail.
The finest texture available. Fat conducts heat gently and at a controlled temperature the meat cannot overshoot.
HowPar-cook two minutes in boiling water to release the meat from the shell, then remove the meat and poach in butter held at 150-160°F for six to eight minutes. The butter can be an emulsion with a little water so it doesn't split.
Direct heat gives char and smoke that boiling can't, and splitting exposes the meat so it cooks fast and evenly.
HowSplit lengthwise, brush the meat with butter, shell side down over medium-high for five minutes, then meat side down for two. Baste continuously.
Eliminates the window entirely on the cut where the window is narrowest.
HowShell the raw tails after a thirty-second blanch, then 130°F for thirty to forty-five minutes. The texture is noticeably better than any boiled result.
Boiling is the traditional method and it is the reason so many people describe lobster as rubbery. A rolling boil holds the water at 212°F against a small piece of extremely lean, fine-grained muscle with no fat and no connective tissue to buffer it — so the outer layer races past 140°F and turns to rubber long before the centre arrives, and the standard per-pound timing charts have no way to account for shell hardness, starting temperature, or how full the pot is. A soft-shell lobster in particular is mostly water and cooks far faster than the chart says. Steam instead, which is gentler, and measure the tail rather than watching the clock — 135°F, pulled immediately. The difference between a lobster at 135°F and one at 150°F is the difference between why people pay for it and why people are disappointed by it.
Buy live and lively — a lobster that doesn't curl its tail when picked up is weak or dying and the meat degrades quickly after death. Hard-shell gives substantially more meat per pound than soft-shell; press the shell, and if it flexes it's a recent moult. Ask, because it's rarely labelled and the price is usually the same. Chicken lobsters at a pound to a pound and a quarter are the sweet spot for tenderness; larger ones are not tougher, contrary to the folklore, but they are harder to cook evenly. Frozen raw tails are a legitimate purchase and often better value than fresh, particularly spiny lobster tails. Store live lobsters in the fridge under damp newspaper, never in fresh water, which kills them.
Doneness: 135°F in the thickest part of the tail, pulled immediately. Claws tolerate slightly more, up to 140°F, since the meat is looser. Butter poach at 150-160°F ambient; sous vide at 130°F. Past 140°F internal the texture is gone.
The consensus among people who handle them regularly is to chill the lobster in the freezer for fifteen to twenty minutes, which makes it torpid, then split the head lengthwise through the cross-shaped mark behind the eyes with a heavy knife in one decisive motion. That destroys the main nerve centre immediately. Dropping a live lobster into boiling water takes considerably longer. Some jurisdictions now require stunning first; Switzerland and New Zealand have banned live boiling outright.
Hard shell, if you're paying by the pound. A recently moulted soft-shell lobster is carrying a lot of seawater inside an oversized shell, so a 1.5 lb soft-shell yields substantially less meat than a 1.5 lb hard-shell. Soft-shells are sweeter and easier to open by hand, which some people prefer, and they're often cheaper in late summer. Just know which you're buying.
The tomalley is the hepatopancreas, functioning as both liver and pancreas, and it's considered a delicacy — rich and intensely flavoured. It also concentrates contaminants including PCBs and biotoxins from the water, which is why several health agencies advise limiting it and avoiding it from certain harvest areas. Eating it occasionally is a normal thing to do; making a habit of large quantities is not advised.