“I’m a tail girl,” Chef Charlotte Langley tells me, “My favorite part of the whole lobster is that little strip you peel off the top of the back of the tail. It's weirdly specific and weirdly the best part.” Growing up in Prince Edward Island (PEI) on the east coast of Canada, Chef Char has the kind of experience with lobster you can only get from living on the coast.
“I remember my dad presented a lobster to me when I was like three or four and he just took the elastics off and let it crawl around the kitchen for a moment. And I thought they were just really interesting.”
In Canada, over 90% of lobster landings are MSC certified sustainable, which means they’re not overfished, lobsters are measured and put back if they’re too small or bearing eggs, and they’re only fished in season.
How to pick a lobster:
Ready for the challenge of cooking a fresh lobster? Chef Char has some great advice for picking the right one.
Male vs. Female
Your preference mainly relies on whether you like tail or claw meat. Male lobsters tend to have bigger claws for dominance in the ocean while female lobsters have bigger tails for carrying eggs. And so, the debate continues whether claw meat or tail meat is better. Female lobsters also tend to have sweeter meat.
How can you tell if a lobster is male or female? “Take a look at the fins behind their back legs where the tail connects to their main body, soft feathery fins are female and hard are males.”
Energy & Colour
If you’re picking out a lobster from a tank, look for the high energy ones with bright unblemished shells. “Fresh out of the sea so they’ve only been in a tank for a short period of time, they're pretty energetic. Otherwise, if they're sort of limp, that means they've been in tank for a long time,” says Chef Char. And thankfully a skilled fish monger will do most of the handling for you at this point.
Market vs. Canner Size
Lobsters primarily come in two sizes – market and canner. Chef Char prefers canner, which is the small size around ¾ lb.-1lb. But if you’re serving more than one or two people, a market size is 1lb-1.5lbs.
Lobster anatomy lesson
Take some time to learn the anatomy of a lobster and how to properly break it down. Chef Char says she’s participated in lobster cooking competitions and can break down a lobster in under a minute, but it takes an average person 15-30 minutes.
What makes lobster sustainable?
Charlotte Campbell, lobster fisher and Executive and Marketing Director with the Lobster Fishers of Prince Edward Island Marketing Board explains that PEI has two lobster fishing seasons: Spring (May – June) and Fall (August -October). Fishing within the seasons is incredibly important for the sustainability of lobster as July is when they typically molt, shed their shells, and have eggs.
“Often times due to inclement weather our fishing season can be delayed in the beginning and then extended at the end...we got special approval from DFO [Fisheries and Oceans Canada] to start our season a little bit early this year to avoid fishing in July,” says Charlotte.
A delightful fact about lobster traps is that they have two main compartments – the bait goes in the “kitchen” and the lobster gets trapped in the “parlour”. Most traps used in PEI also have escape mechanisms so smaller lobsters can slip out.
The MSC environmental sustainability standard also requires fishers to limit their impact on the surrounding species and ecosystem. “We’re very mindful of whales…a lot of fishers now have breaking links on our buoy lines to make sure that if there was ever an entanglement that those can snap and the whale can break free,” explains Charlotte.
Don’t want to cook a whole lobster? That’s ok!
I’m not ready to tackle cooking a whole lobster and Charlotte relieves my worries, “If you don't want to cook a live lobster, don't! Get a bag of meat or a tail and throw it on the grill…it’s easy to incorporate into a household favorite, like tacos. Switch out your beef or chicken and make a lobster taco for a change.”
And obviously whatever product I choose, I’ll be looking for that MSC blue fish label to ensure it is certified sustainable.
Sustainable Lobster Recipes
Lobster is a decadent seafood that’s rich in flavour and high in protein, so aside from eating a whole lobster Chef Char recommends trying lobster mac and cheese, lobster grilled cheese sandwich, lobster salad, lobster pasta, or classic lobster rolls.
And finally, one last tip from Chef Char: make friends with an MSC certified lobster fisher!
“Lobster fishers always leave one crate with their favourites in the water at their dock. So, they can just go and pick them up fresh to eat whenever they want. That's like a serious, huge treat. That's like a small-town thing, you know.”
We asked the MSC team what part of the lobster is their favourite: 58% Tail, 33% Claw, 8% Brain. And one employee after my own heart says her favourite part of the lobster is, “the melted butter that I dip all of it in.”
Support a sustainable ocean! 🌊
Join us every month as we share successes from sustainable fisheries around the world.
* This field is required