So, I like to think I'm a capable cook. I can sear and saute, broil and braise, bake and brunoise and mince and mash, and so on. But there are a few things I've never done, never tried, and am frankly pretty afraid of. This is, or was, one of 'em.
I haven't taken a lot of cooking classes -- I sometimes attend free Sunday morning technique classes at Williams-Sonoma, and I did enjoy a lot of the wine and cheese classes at Tria's Fermentation School in Philly, but as far as hands-on cooking, I mostly do that in my own kitchen, learning by trial and error.
You can guess why that technique wasn't going to fly with lobster.
So, when my (awesome) husband found the listings for intermediate-level cooking classes at the Astor Center here in NYC, I looked at the long list of options and picked the one that I really, really needed professional help with: dispatching and cleaning lobster, from the live state to the plate.
Happy to report that it went tremendously and deliciously well.
So, first, we gathered, sipped prosecco, met Chef Emily, and looked over our recipe packets.
It was great to have hands-on cooking, and after dispatching not just one but two lobsters, ripping and cracking them apart to get at the meat, and working for two hours on chopping, blending, simmering, etc., it was also really good to have hands-on wine.
I didn't know what the set-up was going to be, so I was really happy to see we each had our own station:
Each team of four had its own set of burners as well:
So how was the actual lobster-killing part?