Fresh lobster transportation.

[MDTzak]

i was wondering how i should pack a fresh catch of lobster for a 24 hour period while i drive home? should i put them in sea water with kelp and deal with the smell, or should i pack them on ice? any suggestions would much apreciated.

 

[mntdiver]

Clean them and pack them on ice. Either eat them or freeze them soon after you get home.

 

[MDTzak]

how do you clean them? i have just been throwing them right into the pot

 

[Johnoly]

i was wondering how i should pack a fresh catch of lobster for a 24 hour period while i drive home? should i put them in sea water with kelp and deal with the smell, or should i pack them on ice? any suggestions would much apreciated.

Dead lobsters, depending on the heat, will go bad quite quickly. In 90 degree heat it won't take much over an hour for them to go bad once dead. 2 things kill bugs faster than anything else. Oxygen depletion and fresh water. If you have a 5 bugs in a small bucket of salt water, it could take as little as 3-4 hours for them to use up all the oxygen in that water. Likewise, they can't live in fresh water. When you go to de-tail them, they should be moving if they weren't on ice.

The best thing to do is completely cover them in ice as soon as possible after exiting the water with them. If you want to keep them in whole condition that' s fine, but it just wastes cooler space. Otherwise you should de-tail them, clean the poop chute, and put the tails on ice. If you choose to freeze, it should be done not much later than 2 days on ice or they start to lose taste.

I also have seen people keep bugs alive for 3-4 hours just keeping them in a cool place, and not in any water. They will still be moving around and you can then de-tail them. No matter what, tails must go on ice in 30 minutes after you pull them, if you are in a warm weather climate. Anything longer than that, I wouldn't be trusting of that meat.

 

[rakkis]

I've kept a 1.5 pounder alive for 2 days in an iced cooler. No water. Just ice, a small disposable broiling pan and some napkins so he didn't freeze his legs off.

 

[ProfessorAronnax]

Things to remember when transporting/storing lobster: They need to remain cold, moist and require some air.

This is a great way to transport lobster: Place blue ice(hard plastic) on bottom of large cooler. Place rockweed on blue ice. Place lobsters on rockweed. Cover lobsters with more rockweed. Place moist towel on top(keeps rock weed from drying out). This also works great for storing in fridge-just replace cooler with any open container. I've been able to store live lobster 4+ days using this method.

Rap

 

[2Tours N Iraq`]

When we've made trips to the keys, we have taken a freezer along with us so once they are cleaned, they are placed into ziploc bags and frozen immediately. The cleaning process includes twisting the tail off, deveining it, rinsing the blood off (yes, that clear jelly type stuff), placing them into the ziploc bags (usually 3 or 4 tails) then immediately into the freezer. This keeps them fresh until they are ready to be cooked. That is our preferred method of keeping them. If you can't take a freezer with you, repeat the process then put them in a cooler and cover them with ice until you can get it to a freezer.

 

[chip104]

how do you clean them? i have just been throwing them right into the pot

The only thing I do before I throw them right in the pot is push a chop stick (or barbecue stick - but I've had some break on me) up their poop shoot till I puncture the sac. Once puntured, remove the chopstick and this should drain some fluid (waste?) they've been storing there.

 

[Johnoly]

On spiny lobsters,the carapeice/head includes the thorax, in which most of the viscera and the gills are located, and these spoil much more rapidly than the muscle of the tail. They are the biggest contributor to spoilage with the enyemes and bacteria that are in the gills and the digestive cavity inside of the carapiece. As the temperature rises so does the rate of bacterial growth. Since there is minimal bacteria in the muscle of the tail, you really want to either keep them alive or remove the tail immediately. Leaving the tail on and putting them on ice in whole condition is not a good decision, since at any temperature above frozen solid, bacteria will continue to reproduce, though even at a slower rate. So either keep them alive or de-tail them immediately.

 

[WetDawg]

Here is a helpful hint that you won't get from Martha Stewart...

All spiney lobsters come with a built-in "poop shoot" cleaner.

Just break off one of their antennae, insert about 2-3 inches up "where the sun don't shine", twist and remove along with all the "guts."

No fuss, no muss.