Lobster | New England’s Gifts
(Homarus americanus) Bertha Nunan was the proprietor of Nunan’s Lobster Hut in Cape Porpoise, Maine, from 1974 to 1995. In 1979, we asked Bertha for her advice on cooking lobster, and her words have stood the test of time. Bertha passed away in 2009, but her two sons and their wives—the third generation—still run Nunan’s […]
By Amy Traverso|Sep 16 2015|
Coffee By Design | Portland, Maine
Photo Credit : Katherine KeenanPhoto Credit : Glenn/StockFood
(Homarus americanus)
Bertha Nunan was the proprietor of Nunan’s Lobster Hut in Cape Porpoise, Maine, from 1974 to 1995. In 1979, we asked Bertha for her advice on cooking lobster, and her words have stood the test of time. Bertha passed away in 2009, but her two sons and their wives—the third generation—still run Nunan’s Lobster Hut at 9 Mills Road. nunanslobsterhut.com
Photo Credit : Brenda Darroch
The secret to cooking lobsters is not to murder them. Give them a nice, slow, respectable way out. Don’t put them in boiling water, and don’t drown them in too much water. Boiling them in a lot of water just boils their flavor out, and too much water waterlogs them. I put in two inches of water, whether I’m cooking two lobsters or 14. I take a salt container, and with the spout open, I pour it three times around the pot; then, plop! at the end [about 3 teaspoons]. When the water is boiling, put in the lobsters, put the lid on, and steam them for 20 minutes. [That’s for a 1½-pounder; plan on 12–15 minutes for a 1-pounder.] That’s how Grandfather, Captain George Nunan, showed me, and I’ve done it that way ever since.
