A package of Lobster Claws ended up in my shopping cart when I went to Costco intending to buy a tray of Mashed Potatoes for Thanksgiving. How does stuff like this happen every single time I go to Costco?
Lobster is not one of my favorite seafood items but these claws looked great and were reasonably priced. I guess I figured it was the holiday season and it was an excuse to splurge a little 🙂
These lobster claws, found near the fish/shrimp display, are fully cooked and previously frozen.
How to Get the Meat From the Lobster Claws
The absolute biggest tip I can share with you is to get the meat out of the claws either today or tomorrow and use it as fast as possible. Cooked, previously frozen lobster will be fine as long as it doesn’t sit around and “age” in your refrigerator.
Getting the meat out of these guys is either really easy or pretty tough depending upon how much you want to harvest.
Getting Meat from the Claw is Easy
Here are the steps I use to get the meat from the claw:
- The first thing I do is to twist the short leg portion off from the claw.
- Secondly, I gently work the “thumb” section of the claw back and forth until it gently snaps and then I slowly pull it away. Most of the time if you are careful with the thumb section the meat from that part will slide out of the shell and stay attached to the rest of the meat.
- Next, I peel back the shell from the base of the claw which is easy to do as the shell has already been cracked.
- Once the base of the shell is removed I gently grab the base of the claw meat and, with a slight twisting motion, pull it cleanly from the shell.
Getting Meat from the Leg Section is Hard
Most of the meat is in the claw section but there are some nice pieces of meat in the leg section as well.
Unfortunately the shell on the leg sections are not already cracked so in order to get to that meat you will need something to crack the legs open.
I soon found that I didn’t have anything that resembled a nut cracker in my house and resorted to smacking the legs with a wooden mallet. All I ended up doing was making a lot of noise and a bit of a mess as the water that was retained in the leg portion shot across the counter.
I eventually abandoned the meat in the legs and decided to save those portions to make some lobster stock.
In hindsight, I could have just used a st of kitchen shears to cut open the leg portions like I did when I got some King Crab Legs at Costco a while back.
How Much Meat is in the Claws?
I started with a 1.45 pound package of lobster claws and ended up with 8.5 ounces of succulent meat.
If I had been more diligent about getting the meat from the leg sections then I suspect that would have taken to total yield up to about 9.5 to 10 ounces.
Basically, a little over half the weight of the product is shell and a little under half of the product is usable meat.
How to Serve the Lobster Claw Meat
To serve the meat you first need to flake it apart to remove the large piece of inedible cartilage that is in the center of the claw.
Once you have the pile of shredded meat you can use it to make:
- Lobster Dip (Spinach and Artichoke, Cream Cheese)
- Decadent Lobster Grilled Cheese
- Lobster Mac and Cheese
- Classic Lobster Rolls
I went with Classic Lobster Rolls!
Start by making a lemon aioli.
- 1 cup Mayonnaise
- Juice of 1/2 Lemon
- 1 tbls Old Bay Seasoning
- Salt and Pepper to Taste
Blend about 1/2 cup of the aioli with the lobster meat to coat and let it rest, covered, in the refrigerator for an hour to let the flavors meld. Some folks like to add about 1/4 cup of diced celery at this point for crunch and texture but I skipped it.
Get some nice hot dog buns, I like brioche, and butter the outside. Heat the buns in a skillet until both sides are browned and toasted.
Once the buns are toasted, fill with the lobster mix and serve with a side of chips.
Classic Lobster Rolls from Costco Lobster Claws
Ingredients
- 1/2 lbs Lobster Claw Meat fully cooked from Costco
- 1 cup Mayonaisse
- 1/2 large Lemon
- 1 tbsp Old Bay Seafood Seasoning
- Salt and Pepper to taste
- Brioche Hot Dog Buns
Instructions
- Remove the lobster meat from the shell and pick away from the cartilage inside the claw meat.
- Combine the mayo, juice from the lemon and Old Bay to make the aioli. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper to taste.
- Mix the lobster meat with just enough of the aioli to coat (about 1/2 cup) and refrigerate for one hour.
- Coat the outside of the buns with butter and toast in a skillet until browned.
- Fill the buns with the lobster and serve with chips.
Costco Value
The Costco lobster claws are fairly priced but are not the deal that I thought I would be getting.
These claws were priced at $11.99 per pound and were placed right beside trays of uncooked lobster tails that were priced at $24.99 per pound. My initial thought was, “Wow, I can buy claws for half the price of tails and still enjoy a lobster feast!”
Of course, one I started working with the claws I realized that the cost per pound of lobster meat was almost identical between the two products as about half the weight of the claws came from the shells.
Overall these claws are fine but the tails really cost just about the same and are easier to work with.
