View Full Version : Cruelty to Crustaceans
Theodoric
03-09-2006, 10:51
As you will no doubt be aware, lobsters are cooked by being plunged alive into boiling water. However, part of a recipe for Vichyssoise in yesterday's Guardian magazine did rather startle me. The sentence in question starts:
Remove the heads and tails of the langoustines while they are still alive . . .
I leave it up to the reader to decide whether this is a culinary practice too far.
I once ate 'steamboat' in Bejing. It's like a fondue, but you cook the items in a broth rather than oil. We ordered prawns amongst others, and were a little surprised when the bowl of prawns had a lid on it. The lid was there to prevent the prawns from jumping out...
We felt a little awkward cooking the prawns alive. On the plus side, the prawns were fresh ;)
Chop sticks are not very good for picking up live items btw.
zing_deleted
03-09-2006, 10:59
Bet it tastes nice though lol
If you lop the head off first surely thats better than plunging it in boiling water? decapitation must be quicker and less painless. Spose some will take the tail first though lol
Theodoric
03-09-2006, 11:21
Bet it tastes nice though lol
If you lop the head off first surely thats better than plunging it in boiling water? decapitation must be quicker and less painless. Spose some will take the tail first though lol
Yes, but do you lop the head and tail off, or do you pull them off as you do with ordinary prawns? Are langoustines a bit to large to let you do that?
As you will no doubt be aware, lobsters are cooked by being plunged alive into boiling water. However, part of a recipe for Vichyssoise in yesterday's Guardian magazine did rather startle me. The sentence in question starts:
Remove the heads and tails of the langoustines while they are still alive . . .
I leave it up to the reader to decide whether this is a culinary practice too far.
Interesting question. I suppose the poor blighters have been gasping for air for so long, decapitation is probably a welcome relief.
What about fish that are caught at sea - how are they killed? And crabs - how do you decapitate one of those?
In the future I suppose seafood will be despatched painlessly, listening to Beethoven's Symphony #6, viewing images of life on a coral reef...
As you will no doubt be aware, lobsters are cooked by being plunged alive into boiling water. However, part of a recipe for Vichyssoise in yesterday's Guardian magazine did rather startle me. The sentence in question starts:
Remove the heads and tails of the langoustines while they are still alive . . .
I leave it up to the reader to decide whether this is a culinary practice too far.
Which is why I leave such niceties to the chef....;)
I can't even watch it being done on the TV never mind doing it my self
Luckily, I don't like sea-food
I like sea food but would not be comfortable with cooking them.
As Incog says, some things are best left to the chef.
I can manage to clean and prepare (dead) squid or peel a cooked prawn but as for gutting and descaling fish :nono:
Theodoric
03-09-2006, 14:25
For anyone interested, here is the recipe (http://lifeandhealth.guardian.co.uk/food/story/0,,1863202,00.html).
zing_deleted
03-09-2006, 14:28
well I used to be a butcher these things dont bother me at all id eat it
Captain Birds Eye takes care of all that business for me :)
idi banashapan
03-09-2006, 15:16
As you will no doubt be aware, lobsters are cooked by being plunged alive into boiling water.
I believe they are put in the water when it is luke warm. As the temperature rises, they go to sleep. They obviously die once the water is hot enough, but in the mean time, they dream sweet things never to be.... This 'saves' them the scolding water hurting them... so i have been told...
Theodoric
03-09-2006, 15:17
I believe they are put in the water when it is luke warm. As the temperature rises, they go to sleep. This 'saves' them the scolding water hurting them... so i have been told...
You could well be right; I've never tried it myself. Personally, I feel that, considering its price, lobster is a much overrated dish.
idi banashapan
03-09-2006, 15:20
Remove the heads and tails of the langoustines while they are still alive . . .
I leave it up to the reader to decide whether this is a culinary practice too far.
Do they complain? Is that what this is about? Has one of those European langoustines logged a langoustine Rights law suit? They're never happy are they!
I believe they are put in the water when it is luke warm. As the temperature rises, they go to sleep. They obviously die once the water is hot enough, but in the mean time, they dream sweet things never to be.... This 'saves' them the scolding water hurting them... so i have been told...
There is also the suggestion that you should put them in the freezer for half an hour before cooking them. This supposedly has the same effect :shrug:
I've even heard that sitting them in front of any show on Challenge TV for 30 mins prior to killing 'em produces the same result too.
Graham M
03-09-2006, 15:27
I've even heard that sitting them in front of any show on Challenge TV for 30 mins prior to killing 'em produces the same result too.
LMAO :)
This is from a Tampa Bay, FL, site, telling you how to cook lobster - v tongue in cheek.
http://tampa.about.com/c/ht/00/07/How_Cook_Lobster0962932945.htm
First off, you'll need beer. Lots of it. It's not for the lobster, by the way, it's for you. Beer and lobster killing just seem to go together.
Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil, add salt and lemon juice.
Place the live lobsters in the boiling water head first to kill them quickly. (if you try to boil a lobster butt first, he will in most cases crawl right back out of the pot....
Have you ever done the 'tongs chase' around the kitchen with an angry red-assed lobster ? If you followed step 1 correctly, it can even be a popular spectator sport!
When you boil lobsters, they scream. (wouldn't you?) Even if they're dead, they scream. Don't let this get to you, it's really just trapped air escaping small fissures in the shell.
Theodoric
03-09-2006, 16:23
Do they complain? Is that what this is about? Has one of those European langoustines logged a langoustine Rights law suit? They're never happy are they!
Personally, I'd prefer a more historical setting. A crustacean Madame Lafarge sitting there knitting while the poor langoustine has its head cut off.
Scarlett
03-09-2006, 16:37
Actually what you need to do is replace half of the water with whisky and start it from cold and boil slowly over an hour or so...
By the time the water gets too hot, the lobster won't give a damn anyway.
Also you have the advantage that rather than tense stressed lobster meat (from being thrown in the boiling water), you'll have cool mellow'd lobster meat because it will be nicely relaxed as it cooks....
Actually what you need to do is replace half of the water with whisky ....
:mad: Bluddy Sassenach - adding water to whisky (probably get some lobster wee in there as well) ;)
Just drink the whisky, and then send out for some food - everybody wins, including Mr Homarus Vulgaris.
I've even heard that sitting them in front of any show on Challenge TV for 30 mins prior to killing 'em produces the same result too.
Err, Crystal Maze is on Challenge.
Wicked_and_Crazy
03-09-2006, 19:08
why is that any different to drowning fish in nets, taking them out of water so that they cant breath, electrocuting animals across the brain and then sliting their throats whilst they are stunned?
most people put shell fish in the fridge first before boiling them to slow them down to "reduce the pain" but is putting them in the fridge alive humain?
greencreeper
04-09-2006, 00:11
I believe they are put in the water when it is luke warm. As the temperature rises, they go to sleep. They obviously die once the water is hot enough, but in the mean time, they dream sweet things never to be.... This 'saves' them the scolding water hurting them... so i have been told...
To die, to sleep; To sleep: perchance to boil: ay, there's the rub; For in that sleep of death what sauces may come...
:p:
Well, I cooked King Prawn al Ajillo (http://www.recipezaar.com/127029) tonight. King Prawn came from the freezer though, as they were bought frozen in the local chinese shop. I've never come across live prawn in a shop in the UK.
homealone
04-09-2006, 00:36
just to clarify
Nephrops norvegicus is also called the 'Langoustine', 'Norway Lobster', 'Dublin Bay Prawn' - and, particularly when peeled tails are fried in breadcrumbs, 'scampi'
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norway_lobster
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