Barbecue Lobster Recipes

Barbecue Lobster Recipes -
Grilled With Butter Dressings

My barbecue lobster recipes are very much variations on a theme in that the foundation is grilled lobster and the variations are the sauce that's drizzled over the top. The full process is here so that if you're new to grilling lobster there's absolutely no reason why you can't get it right first time.

Barbecue lobster recipes start with a grilled tail

Renowned for its rich juicy meat and because it is not fished in large numbers, lobster continues to remain a real luxury.

We can use live lobster (or crayfish) or frozen lobster tails (if you’re not comfortable with killing a live animal) provided the lobster tails are still in their shell.

The one disadvantage of using the frozen tails however is that you miss out on what I think is the most tasty bit and that's the meat in the claw. It takes a bit of work to retrieve it but it's worth the effort.

Choose a lobster that feels heavy for its size. Try to straighten the tail, the sign of a good lobster is one that is resilient and springs back when released.

For those who want to know how to kill a live lobster humanely click here.

It is important to kill the lobster first because we're going to cut the lobster right down the middle for this recipe and that's definitely not something to attempt whilst your lobsters are still alive.

OK so now to the variations on the theme? With all these barbecue lobster recipes it is essentially the butter that we use to finish of the cooking that changes and there’s so many options that you don't have to stop with these three.

Try adding any of these options to your butter:-

Garlic
A pinch of Paprika or Cayenne Pepper
Lemon juice and a little of the zest (and an optional red chili!)

Work on about 50g / 2oz of your butter mix per person.

Now to grill the lobster!

You will need approximately 450g or 1lb of lobster per person and if you can get it so that each person gets one whole tail then all the better.

Place the lobster on a heavy board belly side down and cut it in half length-ways. Discard the whitish sac and the feathery gills from the head, then do the same with the long dark intestinal vein running the length of the tail.

Note that some barbecue lobster recipes at this stage will suggest that you crack the claws with a mallet or nut crackers. I prefer not to otherwise the juice in the claw will run out during the cooking. Leaving the claw intact until after cooking does mean that there will be a bit of extra digital dexterity required to crack a hot claw but the juice remains in the claw leaving the claw meat supremely succulent.

Brush the flesh side of your grilled lobster halves with the butter of your choice and place them on the BBQ grill flesh side down for 2-3 minutes. Then turn over and grill for another five minutes until the shell has turned red brushing again with the butter of your choice. The flesh of your grilled lobster will now be white in colour.

Season with salt and pepper and serve with a wedge of lemon (and a glass of white wine of course). Fantastic!

Notes: - Lobster is dark blue when alive, bright pink when cooked and it is often sold ready cooked. If this is the case then you can use this recipe and just "warm through" the tail on the grill.

When cracking the claws, try to do it with one good strike so that the broken shell remains in large pieces. If you go to it with multiple strikes, there's not chance that you'll create small shards of shell and these can be difficult to separate from the flesh.

Female lobsters may contain eggs in the form of an orange coral.