Huge Lobster ?

[pianoman]

Neighbor brought me a Huge Lobster from Hua Hin yesterday... Packed in an Ice Chest and wraped in plastic wrap... Took it out of the Ice Chest and placed it in the fridge, thinking that I would try to figure out how to cook it tonight...

Anyway, woke up this morning and notice a bad smell coming from the fridge.. It has leaked some liquid and smells really strong... Can anyone tell me if it is still safe to cook and eat, and if so any suggestions for an easy way to cook this beast???

Pianoman

[donna]

hmmm....if is stinks, i wouldnt go near it. you dont know how long it had been out of the water and dead before purchasing it, so the smell is a good warnign sign.

if you DO decide to eat it, sit outside the entrance to the hospital and admit yourself straight away.

[seppl04]

as far as I know you HAVE to cook Lobster alive

dead Lobster develope some substance which can be poisonous

maybe some chefs can enlighten us here

[steve w]

Because bacteria form quickly in a dead lobster, it's important that it be alive when you buy it. To make sure, pick up the lobster-if the tail curls under the body it's alive. This test is especially important with lobsters that have been stored on ice because they're so sluggish that it's sometimes hard to see movement.

[JohnBKKK]

simple - if it stinks throw it away - the same with fish - oysters - meat etc

[suegha]

Have to agree, if it smells, throw it away!

[Jamie]

If it's not alive or freshly killed or frozen, it's best to toss it out. Fish or shell fish should not give off a bad odor. The smell of ammonia is a sure sign it's no good.

[pianoman]

If it's not alive or freshly killed or frozen, it's best to toss it out. Fish or shell fish should not give off a bad odor. The smell of ammonia is a sure sign it's no good.

I have always lived by the thought "If it smells bad, it is.." But then again this is Thailand and a lot of the stuff my wife eats / cooks with, smells Really Bad....

O.K., out it goes and I will have to wait until my own trip to the coast to enjoy Lobster...

thanks everyone for the input / advise...

Pianoman

[onnut]

If in Doubt, Throw it out........

I am a chef and thats the rule.

[Bpraim1]

Give it to the neighbours that you least like, with a huge smile. hahahaha

No, No, No, must be cooked alive or very shorty after killed.

Throw that sucker away, or atleast call me so I can watchyou eat it and see what happens in the hospital, as I have allergies to shellfish.

[gennisis]

If it's not alive or freshly killed or frozen, it's best to toss it out. Fish or shell fish should not give off a bad odor. The smell of ammonia is a sure sign it's no good.

I have always lived by the thought "If it smells bad, it is.." But then again this is Thailand and a lot of the stuff my wife eats / cooks with, smells Really Bad....

O.K., out it goes and I will have to wait until my own trip to the coast to enjoy Lobster...

thanks everyone for the input / advise...

Pianoman

An old wives tale is that a cat will not eat "off" meat or fish.....got a cat?

[pianoman]

O.K., anyone who wants to know, wife washed it off, steamed it until "Cooked", and my wife, her son and the son's girlfriend tasted, then consumed the whole thing... I did try a small bit with drawn butter and lemon, and after they tried their's that way they ate with renewed enthusiasum...

I will let you know if I / we end up at the hospital later tonight...

Pianoman

[suegha]

If in Doubt, Throw it out........

I am a chef and thats the rule.

That's a good rule chef!

Can't wait to see if pianoman manages to get back to us.

[Jingthing]

That reminds me of the last time I cooked a lobster, a BIG lobster.

I was in Maine and a friend of mine bought the biggest darn lobster I had ever seen. A monster! Live, of course,

So we took it to his cabin in the mountains and started boiling the water. Put the beast on the floor and it was crawling around and a bit scary to catch and put in the pot (oh cruel world).

This was as fresh as it gets but it was absolutely the worst tasting lobster I ever had. Tough and nearly tasteless. The thing was way too big, meaning way too OLD, to be delicious. It was like eating old man lobster. (Never again.)

[Naam]

This was as fresh as it gets but it was absolutely the worst tasting lobster I ever had. Tough and nearly tasteless. The thing was way too big, meaning way too OLD, to be delicious. It was like eating old man lobster. (Never again.)

the bigger the lobster the sh*ttier the taste.

[Naam]

The smell of ammonia is a sure sign it's no good.

true. anything that has been peed i'd consider "no good".

[pianoman]

Well, it is after 8:am, slept thru the night and feeling fine... And no complaints from the resident Thai's... I would not recommend that others try eating things that do not smell right, but in this case it worked out O.K.... and Yes, the Huge Lobster was no where near as good as many smaller ones I have had over the years... But it was not bad...

Pianoman

[JohnBKKK]

Well .. its not a question of getting sick if the thing is cooked to 100C long enough all the bacteria - e-coly etc.. will be killed off - the question however would be - why would one want to eat it??? taste - flavour - texture will be horrible

You can take putrid meat and cook it long and hot enough and eat it without getting sick - but unless one is in a famine situation why should one go that far - Thais are not very sensitive and when covered with the famous sauces one can not taste the lobster/fish/meat anyway - we had a lot of fish die in the lake on our moo ban two years ago from some chemical polution - the Thai workers who were working on some building picked them all out of the lake and had them for dinner - hmmm besides the muddy taste these fish have anyway they had chemicals thrown in for free- all covered in hot and spicy sauce -

[calibanjr.]

That reminds me of the last time I cooked a lobster, a BIG lobster.

I was in Maine and a friend of mine bought the biggest darn lobster I had ever seen. A monster! Live, of course,

So we took it to his cabin in the mountains and started boiling the water. Put the beast on the floor and it was crawling around and a bit scary to catch and put in the pot (oh cruel world).

This was as fresh as it gets but it was absolutely the worst tasting lobster I ever had. Tough and nearly tasteless. The thing was way too big, meaning way too OLD, to be delicious. It was like eating old man lobster. (Never again.)

Usually true for me. I'm from lobster eating land (coastal New England) and I always buy 1.5 lb to 2.5 lb lobsters (medium size) when I'm doing a clambake. Anything bigger is too tough. Lots of people there like the big ones, the claws on them are still tender. Don't know what size they put into lobster rolls, but I love them. One of my top 5 things to eat in the world.

Warm-water lobster (Caribbean or Asian, whatever) is a totally different deal: no claws, no real taste, just a distant hint of the texture of N. Atlantic lobster. I don't ever bother with warm-water lobster as a meal, but it's good as a texture accent in a stew.

As to the OP, glad everything went O.K., but I wouldn't eat any lobster that wasn't boiled alive or killed that day. Seafood sickness of any kind is too debilitating/dangerous IMO for the risk.