Four-Minute Lobster with a Sauce Made from its Coral

While the French and other cultures have devised elaborate and delicious methods for cooking lobsters, one of the simplest remains the best: boiling. While boiling often results in dry, cottony flesh, this is usually due to overcooking. Most books recommend about 20 minutes, but here a 2-pound lobster is cooked for 4 minutes, just long enough to cook the flesh and leave it moist and delicate.