How to Remove Meat from a Cooked Lobster: Tips to Enjoy Every Delicious Bite Seafood Cooking Tips Dinner

Love lobster? Well, before you can enjoy it, you have to work for it! Learning how to dig out lobster meat requires some practice. 

Here’s a cheat sheet for you so you’re able to enjoy every last delicious bite! But, first, a disclaimer: this is messy work! I suggest holding the lobster with dish towels to protect yourself from cuts and improve your grip.

Here are some tips for working with the lobster tail, claws and body:

Tail

The lobster tail is, perhaps, the most popular portion of the lobster because of its tender, tasty meat and the fact that it can be fried, grilled or baked.

1. Twist to separate the tail from the body.
2. Remove the small “flippers.”
3. Use kitchen shears* to cut through the underside of the shell.

Claws

1. Twist to remove.
2. Separate the claw pieces and the knuckles.

3. Crack the shells and remove the meat.

Body

It can take a bit of work to dig out the meat from the lobster’s body. Note that the small side legs are known to have the sweetest meat.

Tools

If you have lobster forks and lobster crackers, feel free to use them, but kitchen shears, a chef’s knife or even a butter knife should work fine as well.

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