Since now's the ideal time to consume copious amounts of shore food, it's only natural that I've come across a good share of recipes for freshly steamed lobsters served with drawn butter or wok-fried crabs tossed in garlic sauce. But I've got a confession to make: Although I frequently cook and eat the fruits of the sea, I've never actually prepared live seafood. Why? Because I'm slightly afraid of getting pinched by monster claws (anyone seen Annie Hall?), or ending a crustacean's life in a way that's less than humane. Do you feel the same?
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Stila
L'Autre Chose
Killah
It's funny that there is a post about seafood. I have some live lobsters in my fridge right now and I feel bad for killing it so I'm waiting for it to die so I can eat it.
1Well every time I've dealt with live seafood, you just throw them into a huge pot of boiling water and they're killed instantly. Not really inhumane, and not difficult to handle.
2No. I'm totally incapable of cooking a moving critter.
3oh my god! i think leaving it in the fridge to die is worse off than killing it quickly in boiling water no?
but i love to eat seafood.
The only live seafood i can cook has no eyes, like clams and muscles, i feel bad even for that
There's a part in a book i read where a guy cooks a live lobster for the first time and eats it, once he is about to have the last bite he sees the lobsters heart beat and it scares me!
4I'd try it if I could get my hands on any live seafood. Around here, you're lucky if you get it fresh at the store. The closest I've come to cooking live seafood was when my husband and I caught some panfish on our honeymoon and I cleaned them and fried them. They were pretty dead by the time they got into the pan.
5I was scared the first time but I got over my fear pretty quickly.
6No, no no! I love seafood but cannot see it before it's been prepped and cooked. I'm pretty much the same with any kind of meat or poultry, too. I have a million food allergies on top of it all, so I do NOT want to even imagine what it's all about or else I'll have nothing left to eat.
7not, it's totally cruel. no seafood for me
8@ sugar me sweet, leaving lobsters to die in the fridge will make for sick diners later on, as the lobster begins to decompose immediately after death unless heat is involved. And since you don't know *when* they'll be dead, I can guarantee that someone will get sick.
I shared this last year when the same question had been asked: lobsters don't scream when they are cooked. The sound you hear is steam escaping from cracks in their shells. Instantaneous death is pretty much OK with me, but then I've never had problems eating live oysters (ie. yes, they're still alive when I slurp them off of their shells) either. I totally dispatch, cook, and eat live seafood all the time.
9I don't eat shellfish, and I would be squeamish about killing a lobster, but I don't want to touch a live lobster! I think it's kinda mean, even if it is for food. But kudos to anyone who can do it, more power to you!
10When I think of cooking live seafood, I think of my childhood & watching a crab take a chunk of my mom's finger in a fierce kitchen battle. XD
11Lobsters, crabs, clams, crawfish, mussels............you need to keep them alive until you cook them!!!!!!!!!!!Don't leave them in the fridge to die........unless you want to be sick several hours later.
12I don't think I've ever cooked anything live. But I have decapitated fresh, live (and very squirmy) prawns. It took some getting used to (they have poky sharp bits) but I didn't find it particularly difficult. Bigger fare might be another story, however.
13Yes, done it before and I have no problem cooking with live seafood.
14Nope, I let the chefs do that when I go out to eat.
15No way! Nor could I watch someone else do it!
16I eat seafood all the time. I do not have a problem anything that was alive.
17I will gladly kill a lobster to eat it, and if you have a problem with that, than dont come to my house because I will do it right in front of you!
Meat is murder, tasty tasty murder.
18I couldn't do it myself, and I haven't eaten a lobster since I found out that is how they have to be prepared. I don't judge others who do, I just can't make myself eat it after knowing what happened to it.
19I'm severely allergic to shellfish, so I don't cook it. I've never been comfortable with the idea, though.
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