Lobster: A Fishmonger's Guide

What Is Lobster?

European lobster (Homarus gammarus) is the deep blue-black crustacean that prowls rocky seabeds along the South Coast and the Atlantic shore. When it goes into the pot it’s blue. When it comes out cooked it’s the classic deep red. The two huge front claws (one a crusher, one a slicer) are full of sweet, white meat. The tail is the prime cut.

A mature European lobster weighs 500g to 2kg in commercial size. They can live 50 years or more in the wild, growing slowly and moulting their shells as they go. The biggest lobsters are decades old. We don’t sell those. Small to medium animals (500-800g) are the sweet spot for eating quality and sustainability.

Where Our Lobster Comes From

Local Dorset pots. Lyme Bay, the waters around Poole and Swanage, out into Weymouth Bay: small inshore boats using traditional pots, lifting them every couple of days. Some of our suppliers we’ve known for years.

Pot-caught is the only way to fish lobster responsibly. The pots are selective (you can see what you’ve caught before you land it), undersized lobsters and berried females (carrying eggs) are returned to the sea, and the fishery operates under strict size and quota rules. It’s one of the most sustainable shellfish fisheries in the UK.

We keep our lobsters alive in our own seawater tanks at the shop. The lobster you take home was alive that morning. That’s the only real way to guarantee freshness for shellfish like this.

The Best Time to Buy Lobster

Lobster is available all year round. The UK pot-caught season peaks May through October, and best of all in July, August and September, when the inshore waters are warm enough for the lobsters to be active and the pots to fish well.

Lobster is available during the winter months too. Availability is harder to predict (winter weather decides whether the boats get out to their pots at all) and prices are higher as a result. But a winter lobster is a good lobster.

Through our tanks we have lobster available for most of the year. The peak quality is high summer, and that’s when we’d most recommend a fresh lobster as a centerpiece for a dinner.

How To Cook Lobster

Boiled: The classic. Rapidly boiling, heavily salted water (sea-salt levels, proper salty). Drop the lobster in head-first, keep the lid on, time from when the water returns to a rolling boil. 6-7 minutes for a 600g, 10 minutes for a 1kg. Drain, halve, serve with melted butter and lemon.

Steamed: A slightly gentler method that preserves more flavour. Lobster on a rack over rapidly boiling water, lid on, same timing.

Split and grilled: Halve the lobster lengthways with a heavy knife, brush with butter, grill or BBQ cut-side up for 5-6 minutes. The tail meat caramelises slightly, the claws steam in their shells.

Thermidor: The old-school cooked-twice classic. Boil the lobster, remove the meat, dice it, return to the shells coated in a brandy-mustard-cream sauce, grill until the top bubbles.

Raw (sashimi-style): Only with a very fresh lobster, professionally handled. Sweet, briny, transparent. A Japanese tradition.

Lobster roll: Toasted soft buttery brioche, cold lobster meat lightly dressed in mayonnaise, chives, lemon. Maine-style, the modern classic.

Eating a Whole Lobster

Once it’s cooked and split, work through the meat:

1. Tail: the prime cut, biggest piece of clean white meat
2. Claws: crack with a nutcracker or the back of a heavy knife, pick out the meat in big sweet chunks
3. Knuckles (between claw and body): fiddly but full of sweet meat
4. Coral (the orange-red roe in females): eat it or stir into a sauce
5. Tomalley (the green stuff in the head): controversial; some love it, some don’t. Edible.

Lemon, melted butter, mayonnaise. That’s all you need.

Lobster From Parkstone Fisheries

Live Dorset lobster from our tanks, sold live, or cooked to order. Sizes from 500g up to special-order 1.5kg. Free delivery across all BH postcodes, £40 minimum order. For larger or specific sizes, call Steve on 01202 747661. A couple of days’ notice is best.