Last Updated on 20th July 2022 by
If you’re looking for a fancy dish to serve at your next dinner, try lobster tail. This is probably the best part of the lobster because it’s packed with meat. The tail usually includes the abdomen as well, so we’re not just talking about the very back tip of the lobster when we talk about serving up lobster tail. You get all the parts of the lobster that have the most meat.
Lobster is the kind of dish that’s so fancy and exotic for a lot of people that they feel intimidated to try to make it themselves. However, I’m going to show you how to cook lobster tail at home and share with you a few different methods for cooking it.
How to Prep Lobster Tail
You can either halve it by using a sharp, heavy knife to cut open the tell, or you can cut the tail open and pull most of the meat out. By pulling the meat out and placing it on top of the shell, you’ll be doing what’s called butterflying the lobster tail. You also leave a little bit of meat at the end of the tail on the inside when we do this. Now you know how to butterfly a lobster tail, But there is more to preparing this dish than just cutting it open and cooking it.
What about working with a frozen lobster tail? How to cook lobster tails from frozen? It’s really best to let them thaw out completely rather than working with frozen tail. They can be defrosted overnight if you place them in the refrigerator. If you want a more rapid defrost, you can take a frozen lobster tail and put them in a bowl of cold water. Leave them there for about 30 minutes and then drain off the extra water. Put them into cold water again, using fresh water and allowing them to stay there for 30 additional minutes. You can repeat this as much as necessary until the flesh of the lobster isn’t icy anymore.
You definitely want to rinse the tails before you try to cook them. Rinse them under cold running water and then dry them off completely. You should also take out the digestive track from the tails, which is the dark line that goes down the center of the flesh. After you’ve taken this part out with a sharp knife, you want to wash and dry the lobster tail once more.
How to Grill Lobster Tail
Let’s start with one of my favorite ways to cook lobster tail, and that’s grilling it. This will char the shell and the meat a bit, and it adds some smokiness to what’s a conventionally briny and slightly sweet meat.
Start by cutting the lobster tails in half down the center and leaving the meat inside the shell, or you can do what’s called butterfly in the tails and have the meat pulled out on top of the open shell. To keep the meat from curling as it cooks, place a skewer through the center of the tail.
Heat up your grill to about 350-400 degrees Fahrenheit. Place the lobster tails directly over the heat and cook for about four or five minutes on one side. Then, flip over and cook for another four to five minutes. If you butterfly the lobster tails, you want to keep them with the flesh side facing up the whole time they’re cooking.
This method for how to cook lobster tail on the grill will work out best if you don’t overcook the meat, as it would then beome kind of tough and rubbery.
How to Broil Lobster Tail
Broiling means cooking it in the oven at high heat, and this browns the shell lightly and adds a little depth to the flavor. How to cook lobster tail in the oven?
To prepare the lobster tails for broiling, you want to cut them in half or butterfly them and then place them on a baking sheet that’s resting about 10 inches from the boiling part of the oven. How long to cook your lobster tails this way? They’ll need about a minute for every ounce of lobster tail you’re cooking. Check them regularly to see if they’re done, as the dry heat from this method for how to cook the lobster tail will cook them fast.
How to Bake Lobster Tail
When you bake lobster tail, that creates a delicate texture.
Prepare your lobster tails first of all by cutting them the way you like and then preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. You’ll place the lobster tails into a baking dish with a little bit of liquid. You can use plain water or flavor liquid of your choice. Allow the lobster tails to bake like this, which will actually steam them in the oven. You’re going to cook the tails for about a minute or two per ounce.
How to Steam Lobster Tail
Steaming is pretty quick way to cook lobster tail, and it’s a good way to make more traditional lobster meat.
How to cook lobster tail on stove using the steaming method? You want to place the lobsters in a steamer on the stovetop. You can use either the butterfly method or just cut the tails in half. You won’t get a lot of flavor from the meat when you steam them, so that lets you customize the seasonings to your liking really play around with the flavors if you want lobster to be something of a blank slate to work with. You should steam the lobsters for about 45 to 60 seconds for every ounce you working with. Don’t let it overcook, as that can happen pretty easily if you’re not paying attention.
I'm Pauline, a mother of four grown children, my passion for cooking stemmed from the joy i get cooking for my family. I love to try new dishes, especially when dining out but creating and sharing my own recipes is my favourite thing to do!
