My local Central Market had cold water lobster tails on sale for $5.99 a tail. Thought it would make a great Valentine's Day blog post.
If you have not made lobster tails before, they are actually pretty easy to fix. Here in Fort Worth the hardest part is finding good tails.
There are two basic types of lobster tails: cold water and warm water, and there's a significant difference. Cold water tails, from the waters of Maine, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, are considered the better tasting tail. The meat is whiter, more firm and sweeter. They also cost more and are harder to find in grocery stores. Most restaurants serve cold water tails.
Warm water lobsters, which come from Florida, the Caribbean, Cuba, Nicaragua and Latin America, do not have claws like the “true” lobsters that come from Maine, and are normally sold just as tails.
How do you tell the difference? First, simply ask or check the label. Chances are, if it's not labeled “cold water,” “Maine” or from one of the cold water regions mentioned, assume it's a warm water tail. You can also check the shell; warm water tails usually have yellow spots and yellow bands across the tails.
Here a couple of pics of my lobster dinner I fixed for my wife.
Cold Water tails
Using kitchen shears, cut the top of the first tails shell length wise to almost the end of the tail.
Put tail on its side and push down until you here a crack.
Pick up the tail and work your thumb in-between the bottom of the tails shell and tail meat. Wiggle your thumb around to loosen the meat from the shell.
Work the tail meat out of the top of the shell, leaving it connected to the end part of the shell.
Rinse the tail off with water to remove any bits of shell out of the tail meat. If you see a vein along the back of the meat, remove it. Spread tail meat on top of the shell.
If you are grilling the tails, skewer the tails to keep them from curling up like shrimp on the grill. Just run the skewer through the bottom of the tail lengthwise.
The prep only took a few minutes and is easier than it looks.
My Valentine’s lobster blog post is here.
http://www.dfw.com/2013/02/11/752945/weekend-chef-grilled-lobster-tails.html There are more pics and a recipe for a bacon butter cream sauce.
