Easiest Way to Eat Lobster

Use the proper technique to enhance your enjoyment of eating lobster.

Lobster is a staple in the world of seafood, sought after by many for its delicious and sweet flavor. In parts of the country where lobster fishing is among the chief industries, lobster can be an everyday entrée. In other places, it's a rarity associated with fine and costly dining. Wherever you're eating lobster, though, there is a simple and efficient method for doing so that will make you seem like a lobster-eating pro and increase your enjoyment of the dish. Does this Spark an idea?

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Lobster fork
Nutcracker
Sharp knife

Instructions

Legs
- 1
  
  Hold the lobster by its back and twist the legs until they separate from the lobster's body.
- 2
  
  Break the legs apart at the joints.
- 3
  
  Use the lobster fork to pull out the meat from the legs. Alternatively, you can simply place the open end of the leg into your mouth and suck out the juices and meat. However, there isn't much meat in a lobster's legs so you may choose to ignore them.
Claws and Arms
- 4
  
  Twist off the claws one at a time. They should separate from the lobster with the arm attached.
- 5
  
  Firmly snap the claw from its joint on the arm to separate the two pieces.
- 6
  
  Use your lobster fork to remove the meat from the arm, cracking the shell with your nutcracker as needed.
- 7
  
  Pull on the smaller, thumb-like section of the claw to break it away from the larger piece. Remove the meat from this piece with the lobster fork.
- 8
  
  Use the nutcracker to break off the tip of the claw. The claw will already have an opening from where the arm used to join to it. Now it will have a hole at both ends.
- 9
  
  Gently push the meat from the larger hole at the claw's bottom by sticking the lobster fork into the hole you just made at the top.
Tail
- 10
  
  Hold the lobster by its back with one hand and grab the lobster's tail with the other.
- 11
  
  Twist your hands in opposite directions until the body and tail come apart.
- 12
  
  Cut the tail open with a sharp knife. Start on the underside of the tail from the end that used to be attached to the body, and slice straight to the other end to split the shell open. Once the shell is opened, the tail meat can be removed very easily.