This is an easy recipe for a late summer backyard feast. Steamed lobster, lemony butter, and a few cold beers: That’s love. Special equipment needed: kitchen shears, tongs, crackers, bibs, and a napkin to wipe your chin.

　　

Ingredients

serves 4

　　

Lobsters

1 gallon water

　　1/2 bunch fresh thyme

　　4 bay leaves

　　2 lemons, halved

　　4 live lobsters, about 2 pounds each (see Note)

　　

Drawn Lemon Butter

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter

　　Juice of 1 lemon

　　

Step 1

Make a tasty cooking broth by combining the water, thyme, and bay leaves in a very big pot. Squeeze the lemon juice into the water and then drop in the empty rinds. Bring the pot up to a high boil. Plunge the lobsters into the boiling water, cover, and boil for 15 minutes. The lobster shells will be bright red and the tails will be curled when they are done.

　　

Step 2

While the lobsters cook, make the lemon butter. Heat the butter in a small pot over low heat. Warm it up gently so the milk solids begin to cook and sink to the bottom of the pot. Keep a close watch because once the milk solids collect and fall, they burn really easily. Strain the clear butter into a small serving cup, leaving the solids behind, and give a squeeze of lemon juice.

　　Cooks' Note

　　For some, the humane factor comes into cooking live lobsters. If you stick them in the freezer for 10 minutes they will squirm less as you dunk them in boiling water. If you prefer to take a knife and do a quick jab to the lobster’s spinal cord as the means to its end, go right ahead.

　　Reprinted with permission from Tyler Florence's Real Kitchen by Tyler Florence. © 2003 Clarkson Potter