Lobster is a rich, wonderful, decadent, and elegant dish. When paired with the right flavors it can be fantastic to eat, which is why you might be surprised to see that you can not only cook lobster in the microwave, but you can cook good lobster in the microwave! Lobster’s never stop growing, feel no pain when they are cooked, and are so delicious some lobsters are even cannibals and eat one another.
There are two different types of lobster that you can find at various different stores, lobsters that live in cold water, and lobsters that thrive in warm water. At most restaurants, the cold water lobster is the most served because the meat is dense and has a sweet clean flavor. The American cold water lobster is pretty common on the eastern seaboard.
Warm water lobster is originally from the state of Florida, as well as the Caribbean and also Latin America. It has a more delicate protein structure and the meat tends to have a more grainy taste.
Here’s How to Cook Lobster Tail in a Microwave
Once you have purchased the lobster tail from the store, then you can take it home and prepare it for cooking in the microwave! Here’s now!
Once you have the lobster tail ready, you need to defrost the frozen lobster tails. You can thaw them out in the refrigerator for 24 hours, or by placing them in the microwave and letting them defrost. If you want to decrease the time it takes to defrost the lobster tails in the refrigerator, then you can submerge them in water to aid in the lobster tail defrosting.
Defrost frozen lobster tails before cooking in the microwave
In the microwave, you can place the lobster tails in the microwave in a single layer on the defrost setting. Then run them into the microwave for 30 seconds and then rotate them for about 1-2 minutes until they are fully defrosted. Additionally, large and extra large tails might take 3-5 minutes in the microwave.
The Basic Technique
Once all of the lobster tails are defrosted, you need to arrange the tails in a microwave safe dish and place the tail fins towards the center. Cover the tails with microwave safe plastic and also leave a corner free to allow the steam to escape. If you have medium safe lobster tails, then they will each cook at around 2 minutes and 30 seconds. Add an extra minute for each tail, and rotate the tails halfway through.
Other Options
Now, if you want a perfectly moist lobster tail, you can add 1/4 of a cup of water to the bowl before you cook. And if you want to cook the tails en papillote (French for in paper), you can wrap them in seasoned parchment paper and the cooking time is about the same!
Additionally, if you don’t want to cook your lobster tail in the microwaves, then you can also cook lobster tails on the grill as well. Make sure to pierce each lobster tail with a bamboo skewer to prevent them from curling as well. Now, grills can import a lot of flavor into the lobster tail, but they can also lead to a lot of overcooking as well.
Cooking the lobster tail over indirect heat can help reduce the chances of the lobster tails being overcooked. Make sure to keep an eye on them while cooking, and also ensure that you keep on checking them with your thermometer to get them around 130 degrees.
Doneness and Resting
As you keep testing and cooking the lobster tails in the microwave, you might wonder what the lobster tails will look like when they are done. Perfectly done lobster tails are done when the shell is bright red and you have dense and white meat inside. If the lobster is overcooked, then the skin will hard and be difficult to chew as well.
Once you feel that the lobster is just about done, pull it out and let it rest for a bit. The lobster continues to cook even once it is out of the microwave and off of any heat, so make sure to aim for undercooking rather than trying to overcook the meat. All lobster is perfectly cooked whenever the internal temperature is 135 degrees Fahrenheit, so you should stop cooking whenever the internal temperature is around 130 degrees with an instant read thermometer.
Let them rest for five minutes, and then they can be served.
First, especially if you are cooking lobster for the first time, take your time. The real thing that can ruin lobster tails is overcooking. If you want to, check every single lobster tail with your instant read thermometer after every 2 minutes have passed. Then measure the temperature and put them back in.
Additionally, you should also inspect your lobster for discoloration and any unusual spots, and once the lobster tail is fully cooked you can slice the shell without cutting into the meat to give you an even more beautiful presentation. Additionally, you can do a lot with melted butter and some lemon as well.
Conclusion
Cooking lobster tail isn’t something that needs to take hours or needs to be extremely elegant. Additionally, you don’t need the skills of a master chef to make lobster tails whenever you want! Instead, you just need a microwave and a thermometer! It only takes a bit of patience and also attention to detail so you know when the lobster tails are just about done and you don’t spend too much time cooking them.
As long as you don’t overcook the lobster tails, you can make them at home in your microwave or your grill, and then have a wonderful meal any night of the week!
