Perfectly Poached Lobster Tail

There is nothing that says birthday food more than lobster in my household. Well, unless you are my sister Jamie who has had a lifetime of putting up the rest of our seafood-obsessed family.

When I went out for groceries right before my birthday, I could not believe the deal my Superstore was having. Two frozen lobster tails for just $5! I had to get them even though I had no idea what the heck to do with them when I got home.

The Foodie Technique

So I asked my Auntie Laima and she suggested poaching them in a seafood mix her and my mom used to use to cook shrimp. Perfect!

I needed 1/2 a lemon, 1/4 of an onion, a garlic clove, a bay leaf, 1 1/2 tbsp salt, 2 celery ribs and leaves and 8 cups of water for the poaching liquid. You will find a printable PDF of the recipe here.

I covered everything (except the lobster tails) with 8 cups of water and brought the liquid to a boil

I let it simmer strongly for five minutes to let the liquid infuse.

Remember that Cows Creamery Seal Salted Butter I have? I knew it would be perfect for my garlic butter.

I put in a couple of tbsp of butter to let melt with 1 garlic clove, crushed. I really wanted it to be as garlicky as possible. Melt together slowly and gently.

I made sure that the poaching liquid was at a light simmer (NOT a BOIL) and added my lobster tails.

I let them poach (remember, not boil) at a light simmer for six minutes.

I removed with tongs and discarded the liquid.

To lengthen them I put pressure of the back and pushed down to straighten them out a little.

It was impossible (trust me, I tried) to photograph cutting along the bottom of the tails and popping the meat out. I used kitchen scissors and they did a great job.

Remember, it is frozen lobster so the texture and flavour is never going to be as high quality as fresh but cooking it this way adding flavour to the frozen lobster and poaching it helped it stay as tender as possible.

Foodie Conclusion

Delicious and a perfect foodie gift for me on my birthday. Oh look at it glisten and gleam from the garlic butter! I wish I could have some more right now.

Cooking seafood can be very intimidating. The key is not to overcook it. Poaching was the perfect approach to my first home cooked lobster tail. Thanks Auntie Laima!