by Rick Blaine

Created on: June 04, 2009

Can you imagine, my Uncle Francis used to ask, how hungry the first person to eat a lobster must have been? While the crustaceans may not be the most appealing-looking creatures to ever make it to a dinner plate, they are among the most desirable dinner entrees.

Having spent my youth and early adulthood in Maine, summers always marked the season when out-of-state friends and relatives trekked to our house for a visit. Inevitably, these summer visitors wanted at least one lobster dinner, which meant that our backyard feasts turned into tutorials on lobster eating.

Now, anyone can go to a restaurant in Maine or virtually anywhere else and enjoy a lobster, for a price. Those interested only in the consuming of lobster as opposed to the full experience of cracking one of these red delicacies open and extracting the sweet, succulent meat as God intended can order lobster stew or a lobster roll, baked stuffed lobster or lobster pie. There's nothing wrong with that up to a point.

But there is nothing that can replicate the enjoyment that comes from brandishing a pair of nutcrackers and a long thin pick of a fork in an effort to leave not a single gram of meat behind.

You'll need a plate and a bowl, a cup of drawn (melted) butter and a plastic bib if you are as we natives say from away. And, of course, a bright red freshly boiled lobster.

Start by bending the tail backward toward the critter's back until it separates from the body. Do this over the bowl, and tip both halves to allow the hot water within to drain. Put the tail aside. This is the motherlode of meat and, as such, will be dealt with presently.

Separate the claws and their connecting joints from the body and set them aside. Again, we're working our way up to the good stuff. Be patient. Pull the back shell apart from the rest of the body. It will divide easily. Inside, you'll find a wad of green pasty material known as tomalley. This is actually lobster pate, of a sort, consisting of the crawler's liver and pancreas. It is the subject of fierce debate amongst lobster lovers with some calling it a scrumptious delicacy and others calling it disgusting. Give it a try and make your own call. Your mileage may vary.

Pull off the half-dozen little legs, and squeeze the longest segments as you would a tube of toothpaste. There's tender meat in there. Drop them in the butter and fish them out with a fork when you've squeezed them all. That's a good mouthful of lobster most neophytes miss out on.

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