We came home to a surprise on Saturday….a box of lobsters from Boston. LIVE LOBSTERS!!!! Have you ever had a box delivered to your house that moved?! It was just crazy.

IMG_7132

It was somewhat shocking to me to see them moving about. As a carnivore, I understand that before my food gets in a pretty package at the store, it is alive. I just haven’t been part of that process before and found it very overwhelming.

I started feeling guilty that these beautiful creatures were going to die so I started reading about humane lobster cooking methods.

As I was reading, I found something that helped alleviate my guilt….a list of Lobster Mobsters. It was a most wanted list of gangster lobsters that have been wreaking havoc in oceans all over Maine and Massachusetts. (And this is where I started making up stuff to make me feel better about killing my dinner!)

I had never seen such a list so I thought I’d look at some of the pictures. Hmmm, could that be right? Were those pictures of MY lobsters? It was!! My lobsters were the infamous mobsters, Lucky Lobsterano and Arthur Pod.  (I am in no way implicating James Hook and Company as part of the lobster mafia because if they knew who they had in their tanks, they would have notified the FBI..Fish Bureau of Investigation.)

Apparently they worked under the mob boss named Scarfin. Their crimes included such things as laundering sand dollars and selling barrier reefer.

They’ve been circling the globe for years and somehow ended up in a box at our front door. I had to end this madness. I needed to be the judge and jury on these two crustaceans…they must die.

My guilt was gone. I was about to help humanity by ridding the oceans of mobster lobsters. My husband helped me get my biggest pot filled with water and we got it boiling.IMG_7128

It was time to drop them in but I couldn’t do it. I’m not an executioner. My husband put on his hood (you don’t want it getting back to the lobster mafia who did the deed) and dropped them in.

And then I heard the screaming, no not from the lobsters….from me! I couldn’t believe the sound coming out of my mouth. (FYI…lobsters can’t scream. They don’t have vocal chords.) I just felt bad. I know these were mobster lobsters but it still made me a little sad.

When they were done, it took me a couple of bites to get over my guilt. Amazingly a couple super delicious forkfuls of rich lobster dripping in butter made me feel much better and the oceans are now a safer place.

Boiled LIVE Lobsters

Ingredients

3 tablespoons sea salt

2 live lobsters (about 1 1/2 pounds each)

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) melted butter

Lemon wedges

Directions

Fill a large stockpot full of water.

Add the salt and bring to a boil.

Put the lobsters headfirst into the pot and put the lid on top.

Return water to a boil and cook for about 15 minutes.

Shells should turn RED and the tails will curl.

Lift the lobsters out of the water with tongs and drain in a colander.

They had A LOT of water in them so really let them drain.

Serve with melted butter and lemon wedges.

Living in the Midwest, I’m not sure how often I will make live lobsters in my future but it definitely was a wonderful treat. (Thanks E, R & S for remembering our special day and not sending us green bean casserole and iceberg lettuce with peas!)