Lobsters

[BitchesGetStuffDone]

My OH has brought home 2 live lobsters, expecting me to kill and cook them.

I am freaking out. I looked in to their little lobster eyes and they seemed to be saying "Please don't kill us, just put us back in the sea."

I can hear them moving about in the kitchen.

I told him to do it himself but he thinks I am being unreasonable. AIBU for not wanting to kill and cook them?

I eat lobster all the time, never had to cook one at home yet but it wouldn't be a problem for me. The only reason I haven't is because I can get easy access to good lobster prepared and cooked just next door.

Nah set them free! And order a Chinese.

Easiest way to humanely kill a lobster is to place it on a cutting board, place the tip of a sharp knife on its centreline about an inch behind its eyes and give the knife a good quick push straight down. Its over in less than the blink of an eye.

Have your bot of boiling water (or BBQ ) ready to go and either split, tail, or cook whole straight away.

Unless you are a vegetarian, I don't see the problem with it. Every piece of fish, steak or sausage you have ever eaten has been killed.

In the case of fish, unless you catch it and prepare it yourself, very little of it is ever killed humanely or quickly.

I think Lobster is overrated,much prefer Crab.

In the past I've covered with a tea towel and gone in with a really big sharp knife-this was under the supervision of a chef.

Can I cone for tea please OP? Lobster is my favourite food

Unless you are vegan, totally yabu.

Don't be so squeamish and just do it.

Chill in the freezer first for a few hours then stab sharply between the eyes to kill quickly.

Anyone not willing to do this shouldn't be eating the creature.

And I agree with PP, crab is much nicer than lobster.

Poor lobsters! I go with sticking them in the bath and keeping them as pets!

I couldn't do it. I'd gag trying to eat them, poor things.

Excellent thread though... sorry to say I did a big LOL.

i put mine from the sea, into the freezer for half an hour to an hour and hurl them into a pan of fast boiling water.

Same for crabs and they are MUCH tastier.

Boiling water, bang em in and boil em for 12 mins, they are dead instantly and delicious! Try not to think of how they slaughter pigs!

OH did a favour for an (lobster fisherman) acquaintance a couple of weeks ago and he repayed him with lobsters and fish. OH didn't just pluck two lobsters out of the sea! Acquaintance has gone out and unable to help him.

I do eat some meat and have butchered my own meat in the past but never killed something as I couldn't be sure I would be able to do it humanely (and as such only buy meat from a local farm that is ethical and ecological and maintains high standards).

Anyway, I don't eat crustaceans/shellfish/fish, I won't be eating the lobster. So I think it is a complete cheek and unreasonable for OH to think I would do the dirty work for him! DS and I are in agreement that we should take them back to the sea.

We went to Norfolk in the summer, we had the biggest lobsters ever and they were fresh out of the sea for a tenner. I was in heaven! Mmmmm

Also, lobsters are so weird, feel all freaked out by their little eyes and their scuttley legs.

Don't put them in the bath to save them! They die in freshwater.

The worst job I ever had . . .

SleepyMcgee

Unacceptable methods include ...
...or serving any crustacean live for consumption.

But oysters are OK to eat live - yes?
Just interested why the line gets drawn between molluscs and crustaceans.

Do you live near the sea? How long can they live out of water?

If you wrap them in damp newspaper and pop them in the fridge they will live over night and he can cook them himself

There has been some research into lobsters lately and it's been found that they are more aware than they've been given credit for e.g. they have been proven to feel anxiety and fear. This should end to the theory that it's humane to drop them in a vat of boiling water but it won't.

The only "humane" way to kill a lobster is the knife/skewer through the neck. And that's only if you are confident you can do it quickly and effectively.

I'd be taking them back to the sea myself! If you want to find the right habitat you need to put them in rocky substrate 50m or so from the shore.

Lem I'm confused, that RSPCA link and attached PDF says it's fine to freeze them?

We live right on the coast and they came out of the sea this afternoon, apparently they can last 24 or more hours without water. Perhaps in the morning I could convince a fisherman to take them out on his boat and drop them back in the sea? I don't think I can just set them free on the beach?

I've put them in separate boxes because the RSPCA says they are not social animals.

All I can think about is poor Pinchy from that episode of The Simpsons...

I agree that they are weird scuttley things, can't bear the look of them but crabs are much freakier, especially the massive land crabs we get here. Just fecking giant sea spiders aren't they? They climb up the walls and tap on the windows with their creepy pincers, bleurgh! - and after the first torrential rains of the wet season, they come out in force and try and take out your tyres by standing in the middle of the road with their pincers up.

And then after they've been hit by said car, my dogs find the remnants and like to collapse in a joyful bark into the hellish stink that dead crab makes, until they smell so bad that I have to drive home with all the windows open whilst trying not to barf out of the window.

Sorry, total tangent - as you were. Release the poor bastards back to the sea.

Please liberate the lobsters

No, one of them will end up dead if they are hungry and you put them together.

You're going to give them to a fisherman to set free? Like, that'll happen... :o