Ok, so you boil lobsters before you eat them... but how would you boil one of those deep sea lobsters that live around the deep thermal vents where the water is hotter than boiling and only kept in liquid form because of the incredible pressure?

Anyone know of a restaurant in Sheffield that does lobster?

You can stick a knife down the middle of it. See Gordon Ramsey's Hell's Kitchen...

It would have 'boiled' and exploded long before it reached the surface.

Comparable to you opening the spaceship hatch!

You can stick a knife down the middle of it. See Gordon Ramsey's Hell's Kitchen...

That can't be very pleasant for the lobster, but don't suppose being throw in boiling water is any better for it.

ive been to the metitratian resturant on sharrowvale road, they do fresh lobester and there is a seafood restuarant at hunters bar roundabout

You put them in the fridge first, it stuns them, then boil them, and they are dead before they wake-up (I hope this is true, I'd hate to think I tortured my meal to death).

You put them in the fridge first, it stuns them, then boil them, and they are dead before they wake-up (I hope this is true, I'd hate to think I tortured my meal to death).

It's the freezer I think. I don't know that it 'stuns' them but their metabolism will slow down to such a point that they don't move around much.

I'm no vegetarian or animal rights activist but I just don't think I could ever stomach a lobster. I remember going over to the US when I was about 5 and being horrified as a family friend boiled 8 of them alive for a dinner party. It was quite disturbing at that age, especially as I'd helped pick them out of the tank! Apparently, although I don't know if this is true, it does take them several minutes to die when you put them into the boiling water and you need to hold the lid down because they'll try to get out :(

Apparently, although I don't know if this is true, it does take them several minutes to die when you put them into the boiling water and you need to hold the lid down because they'll try to get out :(

I've seen them (and crabs) put up quite a fight, they grab hold of the top of the pan, and you have to beat them into the water with a spoon. It's all quite horrific.

Actually there is now a 'humaine' machine build by this bloke down south that kills them without hurting them- it was in the paper the other day!

I've seen them (and crabs) put up quite a fight, they grab hold of the top of the pan, and you have to beat them into the water with a spoon. It's all quite horrific.

So why do it? :huh:

Actually there is now a 'humaine' machine build by this bloke down south that kills them without hurting them- it was in the paper the other day!

Probably an "Irish Halal lobster killing machine"

So why do it? :huh:

Like veal and foie gras, they are yummy.

I've seen them (and crabs) put up quite a fight, they grab hold of the top of the pan, and you have to beat them into the water with a spoon. It's all quite horrific.
Despite me thinking it pretty horrific, I did find this extract from a site found on Google rather amusing:

1. 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.
2. Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil, add salt and lemon juice.
3.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....
4.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!

O'Reyt trying to get THIS (http://www.afsc.noaa.gov/race/media/photo_gallery/photos/Crabs/redkingcrab.jpg) Mother in the pan

O'Reyt trying to get THIS (http://www.afsc.noaa.gov/race/media/photo_gallery/photos/Crabs/redkingcrab.jpg) Mother in the pan

Is that a king crab ?
The guys who catch them get paid a fortune, it's one of the most dangerous jobs there is.

Is that a king crab ?
The guys who catch them get paid a fortune, it's one of the most dangerous jobs there is.

That's Right Nick.
I watched the documentary the other week, They only go out once a year though for 2 weeks.

O'Reyt trying to get THIS (http://www.afsc.noaa.gov/race/media/photo_gallery/photos/Crabs/redkingcrab.jpg) Mother in the pan

I tried, but she kept dropping the crab!

They only go out once a year though for 2 weeks.

I know someone like that!

O'Reyt trying to get THIS (http://www.afsc.noaa.gov/race/media/photo_gallery/photos/Crabs/redkingcrab.jpg) Mother in the pan

I know someone who got crabs bigger than that ;)

That's Right Nick.
I watched the documentary the other week, They only go out once a year though for 2 weeks.

Did you see Mans Work where that wimpy guy who was in Sin Cities joined a crew, he was throwing-up for the first 3 days, it was realy funny, but the work looked so hard.

Like veal and foie gras, they are yummy.

Obviously no conscience there then. :rolleyes:

Did you see Mans Work where that wimpy guy who was in Sin Cities joined a crew, he was throwing-up for the first 3 days, it was realy funny, but the work looked so hard.

They ought to have nicknamed him "Ralph" :hihi:

Obviously no conscience there then. :rolleyes:

I'm afraid not.

Obviously no conscience there then. :rolleyes:


Nope- top of the food chain :D :D

You put them in the fridge first, it stuns them, then boil them, and they are dead before they wake-up (I hope this is true, I'd hate to think I tortured my meal to death).

So what was that comment all about then?? :loopy: I think you've got more of a conscience than you think! :)

I dont want to get into a heated debate about the rights and wrongs of animal welfare and slaughter. Its a subject very close to my heart - always has been. Suffice to say, I couldnt enjoy eating something knowing it had suffered intolerable cruelty to end up on my plate. But then everyones different, I suppose. :thumbsup:

Nope- top of the food chain :D :D

Absolutely. But why the need to inflict cruelty? Thats the bit I dont understand. :confused:

But why the need to inflict cruelty?
Because there's nothing to stop people - just like powerful people used to torture powerless ones in the past, and still do in some places.

[FWIW I'm equally horrified by animals being boiled alive, which seems a much bigger welfare issue than, say, fox hunting.]

how would you boil one of those deep sea lobsters that live around the deep thermal vents where the water is hotter than boiling and only kept in liquid form because of the incredible pressure?
I don't think they live that close to the vents - the water cools off fairly rapidly, within a few feet for sure, as you get away from the middle of a vent.

Regarding what happens to things as you haul them up from the deep, I think it's only things with swim bladders (e.g. cod) that get turned inside out because of the rapid pressure change, and only air-breathing things like us that would have the problem with boiling blood. But maybe some better-informed person (Phan?) could tell us about that.

So what was that comment all about then?? :loopy: I think you've got more of a conscience than you think! :)


I don't want to hurt it for the sake of hurting it, but I accept that being boiled alive isn't very nice and it doesn't put me off eating it.

I don't want to hurt it for the sake of hurting it, but I accept that being boiled alive isn't very nice and it doesn't put me off eating it.

But you ARE hurting it for the sake of hurting it! If you dont want to hurt it DONT EAT IT!! Simple!!

Your suppose to put Vodka in the boiling water first, Lobster drinks it, relaxes him for the "Big Kill" makes the meat more tender.

Don't blame me, i just read it someplace:)

But you ARE hurting it for the sake of hurting it! If you dont want to hurt it DONT EAT IT!! Simple!!
To be fair, he's hurting it for the sake of eating it, not for the sake of hurting it.

Because there's nothing to stop people - just like powerful people used to torture powerless ones in the past, and still do in some places.
To add to this, I guess that some people don't think they are being cruel, believing perhaps that non-human animals don't feel pain.

But I also guess that most people just haven't thought about it one way or the other. They've always done it, their parents and grandparents did it, so they'll continue to do it.

To be fair, he's hurting it for the sake of eating it, not for the sake of hurting it.

By boiling it alive, you're hurting it. You know what you're doing!! Personally, I couldnt do that. No matter how good it tasted.

By boiling it alive, you're hurting it. You know what you're doing!! Personally, I couldnt do that. No matter how good it tasted.

I guess I could have waited for it to die of old age.
But every animal we eat has to be killed (except oysters perhaps) somehow.

By boiling it alive, you're hurting it. You know what you're doing!! Personally, I couldnt do that. No matter how good it tasted.
Sure, me too neither (unless I was starving and there was no other food available and no less cruel way of making it edible).

I was just making the point that Nick wasn't 'hurting it for the sake of hurting it', as was suggested. He's boiling it alive so that he can eat it, not to get some Roman-emperor-like pleasure out of watching the little beggar writhe in agony. I agree that that doesn't make much difference from the point of view of the lobster, however ...

Don't know about you lot....but I could eat a horse right now:hihi:

I guess I could have waited for it to die of old age.
But every animal we eat has to be killed (except oysters perhaps) somehow.

Yes, they do. And I have no objection to the eating of animal flesh, as long as its raised and slaughtered HUMANELY. I think thats the operative word here. And boiling alive (lobster) Force feeding (Fois Gras) and depriving a calf of its mother, keeping it indoors all its short life, keeping it on a milk diet then slitting its throat for it to bleed to death (gives it a much lighter coloured meat - favourable you understand) Veal are not my ideas of "HUMANE".

And breathe............!!!

Sorry for the rant, but like I say, I feel very strongly about these issues.

These days, practically nothing we eat has been raised in a humane way, you might be able to convince yourself that things get killed humanely at an abatoir, but they don't, boiling a lobster alive is much more humane than what they get upto in abatoirs.

These days, practically nothing we eat has been raised in a humane way, you might be able to convince yourself that things get killed humanely at an abatoir, but they don't, boiling a lobster alive is much more humane than what they get upto in abatoirs.

Point taken. But I do everything IN MY POWER to ensure the meat me and my family eat has suffered as little as possible. Not much, I know. But every little helps. :)

I'm not convinced that being boiled alive is much more humane than being knifed or whatever is done in abattoirs! But it's probably true that a lot of people wouldn't be happy with some of the things that are done to produce their food, if they knew about them. Chickens are treated particularly badly I think.

Ellybum: I think you'll find that many crustacean are boiled or cooked alive in order for the meat to falls away from the shell. When a crab or a lobster dies, their meat will start to decompose or something like that. I think that is right. That's why you buy crabs all cooked and prepared in the supermarket by their shells. It's rare to find live crabs.

I think to freeze them is to cook them in a more humane way. Cos they are almost literally frozen alive. Then cooked. Not killed from being alive.

It's very odd. I think in the UK, we don't see our food supply from beginning to end. People think it's inhumane, but... it is still killed. If we eat meat, then an animal has been killed somewhere along the way.

No, NEVER freeze a Lobster, that kills them, they have to be cooked alive.

Sorry, I should've said stun them by freezing them slightly in the cold. I think u know what I mean, whether it's freezing them til they die, or to let them die before cooking them. Either way the meat will taste different. It's eating a dead animal basically.

I often wonder how English people would cope with the French markets where you can buy stuff alive then take it home and kill it yourself.

I would embrace such markets actually. In SE Asia, there is are so called 'wet market', where live produces are bought and killed at home. That only applies to seafood, and not meat. Meat are killed beforehand and hung. People eat fresh. I suppose I never saw it that way, until I was recently reminded by Jamie Oliver on tv. He went to Italy, and had to kill a young calf. Yet he cannot do it. At the same time, he too found it distressing, but he's a cook. Shouldn't he know what it is he is handling ? I found it a tad sitressing too, but then again, if we eat it, then shouldn't we know where it comes from ?

We're taught a lot by books, and have no idea of basic real life things. Ask a kid where chips comes from, and he may not be able to tell u.

Where do chips come from ? well first of all you have to poke the eyes out...well i'll stop there:hihi:

Where do chips come from ? well first of all you have to poke the eyes out...well i'll stop there:hihi:

Yes, and then they are thrown in boiling oil. Potatoes have feeling as well you know :rolleyes:

Ellybum, well done for fighting the corner of the animal lover so eloquently. You should be a vegetarian, it sounds like you'd be good at it.

Personally I find the idea of boiling something alive (which has got to be pretty bloody excruciating) just to can enjoy a nice meal absolutely disgraceful. We are not cave men. We have a HUGE range of choice of delicious things to eat. I have absoutely no respect for anyone who would disregard the agonising death of another soul just because they fancy a bit of lobster, or foie gras.

You should be ashamed of yourselves. I bet many of you have got pets and would weep like babies if anyone put your dog/cat/bunny ect into a pot of boiling water. What makes the suffering of one being less important than that of another? :rant:

You should be ashamed of yourselves.

Well I'm not, and I'd eat the rabbit too given half a chance.

Well I'm not, and I'd eat the rabbit too given half a chance.

Good for you. How does it feel to be so heartless? And not even ashamed of it?

Thank you for saying that it's disgraceful. No, I don't have pet actually. Just highlighting some points which comes to my mind when I read this thread, that is all. I will admit that I'm a bit of a foodie, and I do see myself higher on up on the food chain, cos how else can I justify to eating meat ? Something that I've pondered about myself actually. Yet, I know I don't have to justify to others.

BUT... each to their own. Anyway, I'm out.
In case, I'm seen as a bully. For putting my own view across. Anyhow, I think I answered the OP about cooking lobsters.
[Added] The special lobsters which live under thermal conditions may not be good for eating. So it prob won;t be cooked the same way, or seen as a food source at all.

Good for you. How does it feel to be so heartless? And not even ashamed of it?

Unless you've never been responsible for the death of any animal (directly or indirectly) you can't realy criticise.

Unless you've never been responsible for the death of any animal (directly or indirectly) you can't realy criticise.

Don't be daft, of course I can. I think there's a difference between accidently treading on a snail and knowingly chowing down on something that you're well aware suffered an agonising death for the precise reason that it was intended for your plate.

Besides of which, the point I'm making is about suffering, and our ability as humans (supposedly beings of higher intelligence, although sometimes I wonder...) to minimalise it.

Eating more humanely farmed meat and turning your back on the crueler practices would be a good start.

Why do some people refuse to take any responsibility for their decisions? Using the excuse of 'it would have died anyway', or 'someone's got to eat it' is just lame.

Eating more humanely farmed meat and turning your back on the crueler practices would be a good start.

How do they kill the cows, lethal injection ? Do they chloroform them first ? or do they still send them to the abatoir to get their brains blown out with a bolt gun ?

How do they kill the cows, lethal injection or do they still send them to the abatoir to get their brains blown out with a bolt gun ?

Some of the smaller organic farms use smaller, less stressful abatoirs, but yes, getting your brains blown out would be pretty gross too. Probably slightly quicker and less destressing than being boiled alive though.

But who says I agree with killing cows?

brains blown out with a bolt gun
Admittedly not very aesthetically pleasing, but more humane than boiling them alive I think.

Sheesh, that JBee's quick! Think I'll leave the argument in her capable hands :thumbsup:

There is no argument is there ?

Your suppose to put Vodka in the boiling water first, Lobster drinks it, relaxes him for the "Big Kill" makes the meat more tender.

I do the same with our Pigs but use Newcastle brown ale instead. It makes the pig sick therefore puts extra vitamins in the water, Makes the bacon taste lovely though, and the Trotters. :thumbsup:

There is no argument is there ?
No, sorry - I meant in the sense of 'that side of the discussion' :thumbsup:

To be honest, I don't know what alternative there is. Putting the knife through the head won't kill them instantly because they have no true brain, and they can't be killed and then sold because they decompose very rapidly. If people want to kill and eat them I don't have a problem with that, I just wouldn't be able to stomach it myself (not that I actually like any seafood anyway).

To be honest, I don't know what alternative there is.

Sorry Twiglet, but I know exactly what the alternative is. Have a heart, and don't eat something that has suffered an excruciating death.

If you stun them in the fridge first they don't even wake-up before they die, it's only if you try to cook them without stunning them that they suffer.

If you stun them in the fridge first they don't even wake-up before they die, it's only if you try to cook them without stunning them that they suffer.

Lovely, yet another lame excuse from someone who really doesn't give a sh*t.

Just how does this method of 'fridge stunning' work exactly?

Just how does this method of 'fridge stunning' work exactly?

Put it in a fridge of boiling oil.

Lovely, yet another lame excuse from someone who really doesn't give a sh*t.

Just how does this method of 'fridge stunning' work exactly?

You put them in the fridge, it stuns them - it's pretty self explanatory.

Good for you. How does it feel to be so heartless? And not even ashamed of it?

Have you never put salt on a slug?

Have you never put salt on a slug?

Or used rat poison ?

I love the taste of lobster, but can't eat it anymore because i'm allergic :-(

And did you know that it used to be so common that in contracts between servants and their masters it would be specified the maximum number of times that they'd be fed lobster in a week.

Sorry Twiglet, but I know exactly what the alternative is. Have a heart, and don't eat something that has suffered an excruciating death.

I don't - which is what I said in the rest of my post! I can't bring myself to eat them but I also won't condemn anyone who chooses to. At the end of the day, animals are slaughtered in 'cruel' ways all over the world (especially Halal and Kosher meat) and I don't think it is right to impose our societies' values on their religious traditions, and in the same way I won't impose my views on people's eating lobsters.

probably going OT, but they are part of our society, so why should they not have to conform to the majority view of what is acceptable regarding the treatment of animals?