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Lobster Martha’s Vineyard-Style
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Mar 31, 2025
Most people boil lobster. Yes, it keeps the meat moist, but grilling roasts the shells and gives the meat a complex flavor you simply can’t achieve with a pot of water. Besides, few sights are cooler than a grill full of bright orange lobsters sizzling over glowing coals. Garlic herb butter on the side? Of course.
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0:00
When I'm not traveling Planet Barbecue, I spend a lot of time in Martha's Vineyard
0:05
Of course we grill, and the first thing we grill is seafood, even lobster, especially lobster
0:11
The high dry heat of the grill gives you a complex flavor you just can't get from boiling
0:17
Now, in the vineyard we use live lobster. Some people may find the act of cutting a live lobster open disconcerting
0:24
so what you can do is parboil the lobster for three minutes. That's what we have here
0:30
What you want to do first is cut off the claws. They cook longer than the lobster body, so we'll cook them separately
0:39
Next, using a large knife, you want to cut through the belly of the lobster
0:48
You cut to, but not through, the top shell. And you want to just butterfly the lobster open like this
0:56
and if you find the vein, you can just pull it out and discard it
1:03
So here's our lobster. This is a great trick for keeping grilled lobster moist
1:10
You want to collect the juices in a bowl, and I'll show you how to use them in a minute
1:18
Now, next step, a little melted butter. Brush the inside of the lobster
1:27
This green stuff is called the tamale It the lobster liver and New Englanders consider it a delicacy Next season the lobster with this beautiful coarse sea salt
1:41
and cracked or freshly ground black pepper. We're going to grill the lobsters on a wood-burning grill
1:56
and what you do here, just raise the grate with this flywheel
2:01
and we're using pecan wood. Lay it on the coals. The beauty of grilling with wood is that wood gives you not only heat
2:09
but a smoke flavor. First place the large lobster claws. Then the smaller claws
2:26
Then the lobster bodies, and these go cut side down. The idea here is you sear the meat for a couple of minutes
2:34
and then turn the lobsters over so they finish cooking in the shells
2:43
Then, using the flywheel, lower the grate to expose the lobsters directly to the heat
2:51
Now, while the lobsters grill on one side, let me show you the sauce
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It's very simple. Melted butter, a couple of cloves of crushed garlic, we have finely
3:02
chopped flat leaf parsley chopped fresh tarragon and chopped fresh chives And we simply place the pot directly on the grill cook these ingredients together
3:19
so make a great simple sauce for the lobsters. Once the lobster claws are cooked on one side, just turn them over in the order in which you put them on the grate
3:31
Cooking time on the claws is about four minutes per side. Remember, every grill will have hot spots and cool spots
3:40
so if you want to get that butter sauce a little hotter, you can just move the pan to the back of the grill
3:47
And to make sure the lobster cooks evenly, you can just sort of move the logs around
3:53
so you have an even heat under each lobster. Now, what I'm looking for here is that the cut part of the lobster will be browned
4:05
Don't forget to stir your sauce. Don't want it to brown. I just want the herbs to be fragrant and aromatic
4:13
Okay, and once this mixture is sizzling and the garlic has lost its rawness
4:20
just transfer your sauce to a trivet. Okay, so just turn the lobsters over
4:27
You can see the meat inside the tail is nicely browned. Then what you want to do with these reserved lobster juices is you can just pour a little over the lobster meat and they cook thanks to the hot meat Then you want to continue cooking the lobsters until the
4:50
meat is all the way cooked through. I checked the doneness by poking it will
4:57
feel firm to the touch. You can baste the lobsters with a little bit of your herb
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butter. So how do you know when the lobster is ready? Well, the claws will be nicely browned
5:13
and the tail meat will feel firm to the touch. so let's see how we did
5:28
take a claw and a lobster body put a little sauce on it
5:47
Mmm. Oh, man. The lobster is so sweet, and you get that nice smoke flavor
5:56
Mmm. Wood-grilled lobster. It's how we do it at my house. Okay, Nancy and Michelle, let's clear the set
6:08
Mmm. Mmm
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