Poll: Do You Buy Live Seafood to Cook at Home?

Are You Comfortable Cooking Live Seafood?

July 17, 2009

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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20 Comments

xxstardust 3 years 43 weeks

I'm severely allergic to shellfish, so I don't cook it. I've never been comfortable with the idea, though.

telane 3 years 43 weeks

I 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.

CaterpillarGirl 3 years 43 weeks

I 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.

msloloknitter3 3 years 43 weeks

I eat seafood all the time. I do not have a problem anything that was alive.

Pampire 3 years 43 weeks

No way! Nor could I watch someone else do it! :(

miamixo 3 years 43 weeks

Nope, I let the chefs do that when I go out to eat.

CoconutPie 3 years 43 weeks

Yes, done it before and I have no problem cooking with live seafood.

muse2323 3 years 43 weeks

I 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.

chiefdishwasher 3 years 43 weeks

Lobsters, 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.

misogi 3 years 43 weeks

When 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

doogirl 3 years 43 weeks

I 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!

shoneyjoe 3 years 43 weeks

@ 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.

Mariana48 3 years 43 weeks

not, it's totally cruel. no seafood for me

Marci 3 years 43 weeks

No, 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.

laurelm 3 years 43 weeks

I was scared the first time but I got over my fear pretty quickly.

Spectra 3 years 43 weeks

I'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.

PirateKitty 3 years 43 weeks

oh my god! i think leaving it in the fridge to die is worse off than killing it quickly in boiling water no? The only live seafood i can cook has no eyes, like clams and muscles, i feel bad even for that :( but i love to eat seafood. 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!

chancleta 3 years 43 weeks

No. I'm totally incapable of cooking a moving critter.

syako 3 years 43 weeks

Well 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.

sugar_me_sweet 3 years 43 weeks

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.

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20 Comments

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