How To Keep Live Lobsters Alive At Home

Keeping lobster alive in the fridge overnight? Or cook two days early

I am getting a bunch of live lobsters Friday night that I want to serve chilled for dinner on Sunday. Do you think it would be better to keep them alive in the fridge overnight or steam them Friday, remove the meat and keep the cooked lobster in the fridge until Sunday?

If keeping them alive is the better choice, what is the best method? Previously I have only kept them alive in the fridge for up to 12 hours, and I simply wrap them in wet towels and maybe throw a bit of ice on top.

level 1

that's a doozy. Well for freshness obviously it would be better to keep the little crustaceans alive till Sunday, as even cooked lobster meat will spoil real frigging fast. And forget freezing, the freezing that a person can do in their home is not at all like an IQF process. When a lobster dies, bacteria in its intestine that help with digestion (all animals have this) will begin to break out and spoil the rest of the animal within 30 mins. 30 minutes. This means if the lobsters die in your fridge while your asleep, your fucked. Wet paper towels and some ice will do fine. Just do everything in your power to not let them die. They will have to be active and alert and not sluggish on sunday or people could become quite ill.

level 2

Well based on what you and the others have said I'm thinking of this plan:

Put them in the back of the fridge with ice and wet towels overnight.
Cook and remove tail/claws on Saturday night.
Serve Sunday.

level 1

Wrap them in wet newspaper, put them in a paper bag, put that bag on a tray, and keep them in the coldest part of your refrigerator. They should last at least 24 hours. Obviously if they die during storage, don't use them, but I've had success with this method for about 2 days.

level 1

fill a cooler full of water, salt water if possible from the sea, if not then your going to need to add your own salt. then put in a bubble stone/air pump for an aquarium. They are only like 10 dollars or so. you can keep them alive and fresh for as long as you want. hell, you could keep them as pets if you wanted to.

level 2

Sounds like the best idea to me.

level 2

That's a lot of effort for 2 days.

level 1

FWIW, I brought steamed lobster with me on a plane with some frozen peas in their box (so they were kept quite cool but not frozen)... I think I bought them on Friday afternoon, got home 12+ hours and three airplanes later (yay coast-to-coast flight... I love Canada...) I put them in my fridge and ate them Saturday night with no ill effects. They were whole when I bought them and I took the meat out just before eating. So they had been cooked for at least 36 hours before I ate them (possibly more, I don't know how long they were cooked before I bought them)

So that's my experience, but the lobster was quite fresh before it was cooked.

level 2

I'm confused...was the lobster steamed before you got on the plane (you "brought steamed lobster on a plane with frozen peas"), or were they live? How did the frozen peas stay frozen for 12+ hours?

level 1

You can definitely keep them in the fridge, make sure theyre kept moist and put in the back of the fridge.

When I buy them, they have been sitting in the back of a fridge truck (coming in from the maritimes) for 48 hours. My fish guy says that they would last at least another 24 hours out of the tank at the store. Do what you did last time, it will be fine.

level 1

This is getting me thinking lobster this weekend, especially considering it's hard to find it for more than $5 a pound right now.

Boston: freakishly high rents, freakishly cheap lobster.

level 1

get a kiddy pool in your back yard.

level 1

Cook them.

Take a chance and wait two days they very well could be dead and worthless.

Cook them now they`ll be fine in two days.

level 1

Roll the dice, cook em sunday. They will be fine