How to Kill Lobster

There are all kinds of theories on how to kill lobster, depending who you talk to.

I've always been in the just throw them in the pot group. But since I started this site, I've been asked this question, so I thought I'd research it.

I can remember as a kid, standing them on their heads and rubbing their backs to hypnotize them. My mother also used to put them in cold water and turn the heat up gradually. Turns out those were not such good ideas. Hypnotizing doesn't really help, though it is a fun party trick. Turning the heat up gradually is actually the worst way to do it.

According to The Lobster Institute at the University of Maine, researchers believe the most humane way to kill a lobster is to chill it by placing it on ice or in a freezer, and then putting it in water that is already at a rolling boil. I've tried it, and it did seem to work pretty well. At least, the lobster moves a lot less than when you just throw it straight in the pot.

There are some recipes that call for a lobster to be cut in half. There are two options for these. The first, my preferred, is to do the above, boiling the lobster only for a minute, and then taking it out of the water and cutting it only after it's already dead.

The other option is actually killing the lobster by plunging a knife in its head and cutting it in half. I'm a bit squeemish about doing this, so here's a chef doing it.