Lobster

Of all the creatures that inhabit Maine's cold ocean waters, none is better known or more highly prized than the lobster. This hardy crustacean once adorned the state's license plate and pops up on restaurant menus along the coast. The lobster's fame is well deserved. Its meat—found in the powerful front claws, the large tail and the spindly legs—is a true delicacy, sweet and succulent. Its taste makes all the effort it takes to catch, cook and eat a lobster seem well worthwhile.

Two hundred years ago, the lobster did not enjoy its present luxury status. Early Maine settlers used lobsters as fertilizer, and legend has it that prison inmates complained about having to dine on lobster three times a week. Perhaps familiarity bred distaste, as lobsters were once so plentiful that they could be gathered at low tide along Maine's rocky shore. 

Today, lobster fishing requires considerably more work. Lobsters live on the ocean floor where they feed on snails, clams, mussels and other marine life. Lobstermen catch their prey using box-shaped wire traps, which they drop overboard and mark with brightly painted buoys (their distinctive color combinations are registered with the state). During the seven years it takes a lobster to reach its legal catch size, it regularly molts its shell. Most lobsters average around 1.5 pounds in weight, but lobsters as large as 40 pounds have been reported!

Living lobsters are deep-green or gray in color—and once in a blue moon— a dark shade of blue. When they are cooked, however, they turn bright red. To eat a cooked lobster, you need a nutcracker, a lobster bib and lots of drawn (melted) butter. Twist off the front claws, crack them open and remove the meat. Break off the tail from the body and use a fork to push the meat out. Though small, the lobster's eight remaining legs contain good meat and the best way to get at it is to suck it out. In the main body, you will find a pasty, green substance known as tomalley. Many people dislike tomalley (which is the lobster's liver), but others consider it one of the best parts of the meal.