Cutting up Cooked Spiny Lobster

Appears in
top 1000La Varenne Pratique
La Varenne Pratique

By Anne Willan

Published 1989

  • About
Once cooked, lobster can be tightly covered and refrigerated for 24 hours. Whole spiny lobster, or rock lobster tails, which are often sold without the body, are prepared in this way.
  1. Holding the lobster with both hands, twist and pull the body and tail apart, leaving the tail meat in one piece.

  2. With kitchen scissors, cut along the underside of the tail on each side.

  3. With your fingers, press the shell on both sides to loosen the tail meat.

  4. Peel back the shell with your hands and extract the tail meat in one piece.

  5. Cut off the intestinal meat at the end of the tail.

    ALTERNATIVELY, cut off the tail fins and push the meat out of the shell.

  6. Cut the tail meat in medallions or leave it whole, depending on size. Finally, extract the meat from the claws and legs, and clean the body.