Why do some lobster taste different than others?

[diverlen]

Jfoster, I do believe you when you say you have experienced bad tasting lobsters. However, in my 40 years of catching and eating florida lobsters, I truthfully cannot say that I have ever had one that tasted funky. My advice is simply: keep your lobsters fresh until you tail them, then immediately fully remove the anal canal and either refrigerate the tails for quick consumption or wrap them in a high quality freezer wrap and stick them in the freezer. If you do this, maybe some of your problems may be over. Just the way I do it. Hope this helps.

 

[jfoster33702]

Jfoster, I do believe you when you say you have experienced bad tasting lobsters. However, in my 40 years of catching and eating florida lobsters, I truthfully cannot say that I have ever had one that tasted funky. My advice is simply: keep your lobsters fresh until you tail them, then immediately fully remove the anal canal and either refrigerate the tails for quick consumption or wrap them in a high quality freezer wrap and stick them in the freezer. If you do this, maybe some of your problems may be over. Just the way I do it. Hope this helps.

How do you keep yours when you're out on the boat?
We usually leave them in the livewell with it running. They do seem to get lethargic and some of them die by the end of the day. We've also tried no water at all and they actually seem to live longer. Should I put them on ice right away? I don't think I do anything different than most - as usually I see pictures of peoples take, lined up on the seawall or on thier driveway.

Here's my normal procedure.

Catching lobster by 8:00am - limit by 10-12. Usually on the water for a few more hours after that. When we get back to the ramp, we immediately tail them, de-vein them, bag them and put the tails in the cooler.

They don't taste BAD - like rotten or anything. THey just have a distinct bitter...maybe chemical like taste to them.

 

[jfoster33702]

Oh, and I should explain something else.

I can eat them like this - no problem. My wife cant stand it though. It's to the point where she's starting to not want lobster because of the possiblity that it might taste like that. This is making my trips to the Keys less frequent - so this is a SERIOUS problem!

 

[diverlen]

Maybe there is something about your livewell. If you keep it running all day, the pump puts fresh saltwater in it and the overflow should take out waste material from the live lobsters. You mention that some of your lobsters are dead, well, something doesn't sound right here. They should all be alive and frisky with the continuous additon of fresh saltwater. So, I would look at that setup very carefully.
I have lived in the Keys and been out all day but when I docked, my bugs were very much alive and they tasted just fine when we prepared them for a meal. I don't know what else to say, it just sounds like something is not right in your livewell.

 

[jfoster33702]

It's something... I've tasted this from lobster in a couple different boats and even when we go out to eat. I've wondered if it had to do with what molting stage they were in.

I wish someone would come on and say that they've tasted the same thing. Wierd

 

[djtimmy77]

I have had funky tasting spiny lobsters.

 

[Wookie]

I very rarely eat spiney lobsters because they don't taste "right" to me. I grew up in Maine, and boiled with butter is the only way. Anyway, I've never known anyone to try to keep a lobster alive in the live well, I've only seen them immediately chilled. A lobster will stay fresh like shrimp or any other crustacean if you chill the meat immediately. If a Maine lobster dies before cooking, you get an ammonia smell that rocks your world, which I might guess would translate to a bitter taste.

I'd fill the live well with ice, leave the pump off, and chill the lobsters. When you tail them, give them a whiff and see if the ammonia smell is present. I know a Maine is different than a spiney, but that's one of the reasons I don't eat spineys, is they are cooked dead, which I just can't get my head around.

Are they ever dead when you pull them out of the live well? And how long have they been dead and in 90 degree water? That sounds like a bad combo to me.

 

[jfoster33702]

That might me true ^^. Looking at it that way. I just refer to how everyone seems to keep them - I see everyones catch in their driveway for the "trophy pictures". This time, I'll definitely put them on ice first and see how it works out.

 

[Dirty-Dog]

I'm not a lobster eater... but I have been told (by a friend who is a chef at the Broadmoor in Colorado Springs) that lobster have to be boiled alive, because if they're killed before cooking, the CSF leaks into the meat and "ruins the flavor". I don't know if the same is true of spiney lobster, but it's something to consider.

 

[reelmagic]

we typically keep lobster in my livewell and they are probably more frisky after being in my livewell than they were before!!! If you have lobster dying in the livewell, something is wrong with it - no doubt. Not sure this is the funky taste problem or not, but your livewell isn't working. I can only think of one spiny I've had that had a funky taste, and if I remember it wasn't a very lively specimen even when we caught it.