This grilled lobster recipe sees the sweet meat of the crustacean meet an indulgent buttery sauce and perfectly crispy fries. Simple in ingredients but a challenge in technique, this recipe is a great way to broaden your cooking skills and try a more decadent feast on the BBQ. 

Temperatures

For safe and juicy lobster meat, ensure to cook the lobster to 60°C using your Thermapen.

Ingredients

Serves 2

• 2 whole live lobsters
• 1 bulb of garlic
• 250g unsalted butter
• 30g chopped parsley
• Salt
• French fries – lots to soak up the juices

Lobster sourcing tips

• Speak to your local trusted fish monger.
• You want to buy your lobsters alive and moving, make sure they bind the claws for you so you don’t get snipped.
• It is important to cook you lobster within 24 hours of buying it. Store your lobster on a tray lined with a clean damp kitchen cloth over the top, the cold puts them in a deep sleep. They are salt water creatures and fresh water will kill them!
• Make sure you keep your lobsters alive right up until you want to cook them. Dispatching the lobsters in advance will lead to a mushy texture, the moment the lobster dies enzymes start to de-nature the proteins.
• Like all shellfish, for food safety reasons eat while at its freshest.

Directions

For the garlic butter

• Start by making the garlic butter, this can be done a couple of days in advance and stored in the fridge.
• Preheat your oven or bbq to 150°C.
• Wrap half a bulb of garlic in tin foil and slowly roast until it smells amazing! Use your nose for this one as it will be the best test for when it’s done, but roughly for 30 minutes. Once cooked set aside to cool.
• Soften your butter.
• Chop your parsley and grate the remaining cloves of garlic.
• Mix the roasted garlic, raw grated garlic, butter, parsley and salt together. If you have a food processor this will work perfectly.
• Store in a container with a lid or if you’re feeling fancy roll in cling film to create that professional look.

Tip: Any left over butter can be frozen and kept for your next cook.

Method for the lobster

Lobster cookery is all about high heat and speed so get that grill nice and hot!

• Put your lobsters into the freezer for 30 mins, this is to make sure that the lobster is fully asleep before we dispatch.
• Light your BBQ or grill of choice. Get the temperature to around 350°C.
• Throw your French fries into the oven at this point as well if you are using oven fries. If you are feeling boujee, heat the deep fryer up now as well. You want to have everything ready to go, as once the lobster is dispatched we need to work fast.

Everything is hot and ready to go, time to dispatch the Lobster!

• Take the lobster out the freezer.
• With the blade edge of the knife facing the head, plunge the knife into the body where the shell forms a “T”. Move the blade quickly but carefully through the head. The lobster is now dead, but it may continue to move or twitch but this is just the nervous system shutting down.
• Spin the lobster around now and follow the cut from the head and cut the tail of the lobster in half.
• Scoop out the stomach sac and intestinal tract out with a spoon and discard. Scoop out and either reserve or discard the green digestive tract, called the tomalley.
• Gently rinse the lobster with some cold water.

• Using the blunt end of the knife use it to crack the claws of the lobster. Doing this will allow the heat and the smoke to penetrate the claw.

Now the messy bit is over it’s time to cook

• Melt your garlic butter and brush some over the lobster meat.
• Place the lobster meat-side down on the hot bbq or grill for around 2 minutes.
• Flip it over and give it another brush with garlic butter.
• Check the temperature of the lobster meat, you are looking for 60°C. Make sure to check both the temperature of the claws and the tail. Use the crack you made in the claws to get your Thermapen in to check.

Lobster meat is different to a lot of other fish proteins, it doesn’t flake like most fish so this is why cooking it to precisely 60°C avoids over cooked and rubbery meat.

To serve...

• Finish cooking your French fries and use them as the base to soak up all the delicious juices.
• Place your cooked lobsters on your fries and drizzle some garlic butter over the top.
• Garnish with half a lemon and some chopped parsley.
• Put your bib on and dig in!

Dan Cotton

Chef, The Coal Shed

@thecoalshed

"Working in a fast paced kitchen I need something I can rely on every time to give me fast and accurate temperatures. Thermapen gives me the confidence to make sure my food is not just safe but consistent every time."