Events

Serve a Super Bowl New England Style Boiled Lobster Dinner

Posted on January 26, 2012

With New England and New York in the Super Bowl for 2012, it is only fitting that everyone’s favorite East Coast fare be part of the super celebration. Yes, we are talking about lobster; lots of fresh, great tasting Maine lobster for a Super Bowl lobster dinner.

The East Coast Championship Match

Saturday delivery of live lobster is now available in most parts of the country. So even if you are sitting out there in Kansas, you can still be part of the New England lead up.  Order the lobster online and have them delivered right to your house.  Live Maine lobster can now be part of Super Bowl celebrations all across the country.

Easy to Prepare 

Keep it simple with a traditional boiled lobster recipe.  Boiled Maine lobster is easy to prepare, fun to serve and will be a big hit with the guests.  After all, how often do the New England Patriots and the New York Football Giants play one another in the Super Bowl?  (You don’t have to answer that.)

After all, how often do the New England Patriots and the New York Football Giants play one another in the Super Bowl?

Yes, with this second time around, the New York–Boston rivalry is alive and well.  So why not celebrate this East Coast championship match by ordering the New England eight-lobster special. 

When the lobster arrives on Saturday, you may keep them overnight by adding some wet newspapers and frozen gel packs to the carton. Don’t take them out of the carton to play with.    It is important they stay cool and moist until ready to cook.  If it’s below freezing outside, don’t leave the lobster in  the box outside either.

New England Lobster Dinner

When ready to prepare, just follow the directions for traditional boiled lobster:

Ingredients: 

  • 8 1 ¼  pound live lobsters
  • Sea Salt
  • Two gallons water
  • Two pounds melted butter
  • Two fresh whole lemons
Directions:
  1. Add water to large pot or kettle and bring to a roiling boil
  2. Add four table spoons sea salt
  3. Place live lobsters head first into pot and cover
  4. Stir lobster occasionally to move bottom lobsters to top so the lobsters will cook evenly
  5. Cook for 12 to 13 minutes until bright red (do not over cook as meat will toughen).  Give the antenna on one of the lobsters a yank.  If it pulls off easily, the lobsters are done.
  6. When cooked properly the lobster meat will have turned from translucent to  white
  7. Remove the cooked lobster and allow to drain for one minute.
  8. Serve with melted butter and lemon wedges on the side

Eating the lobster begins by twisting off the claws and the tail and cracking the shell to get at the meat.  Providing your guests with traditional lobster bib kits makes the job easy; the  the kits come with handy eating instructions.

To round out your lobster dinner, consider adding some traditional prepared lobster fare like a Maine lobster pizza  or fresh steamer clams and oysters.

Enjoy the game!

© Wayne Howe 2012

 

Fishermen Holidays Maine

Maine Christmas Lobster Tradition Stands 60 Feet Tall

Posted on December 6, 2011

When Christmas lights and other decorations appear on houses and yards along the famous Maine lobster coast, another strictly Maine lobster tradition occurs. Lobster traps are stacked high on land in the shape of a Christmas tree and are decorated with Christmas lights and become the centerpiece of holiday festivals.

Lobster is considered one of the most popular celebration foods in the country, and the Maine lobster dinner is especially popular during the holidays.  A million pounds or more of live Maine lobster harvested by fisherman from these coastal towns are shipped all over the country between Thanksgiving and New Years.  So it is only natural that towns that provide the fishermen that catch  the popular holiday food should do something special with the tools of the trade.  In one town,  more than a thousand lobster traps were used to create a lobster trap Christmas tree.

Lobster Trap Christmas Tree. Courtesy Bangor Daily News

According to the Bangor Daily News (BDN),  a 60 foot Lobster Trap Christmas Tree stands  in Beals at the Moosabec Reach from Jonesport.  The traps are  decorated and topped with buoys arranged in the form of a cross.

Another lobster trap Christmas tree stands in Rockland and is more than 30 feet tall and features an  an illuminated lobster.

Building a 60 foot Lobster Trap Christmas Tree in Beals, ME

According to BDN, the two Maine municipalities are like countless other places across the country that erect large Christmas trees in public gathering spots. Only instead of using actual trees, they use decorated lobster traps.

The display in Rockland has been erected every year since 2003. This is the second year the people of  Jonesport and Beals  have decided to get into the act and build one. The Beals’ lobster trap tree consists of 1,364 traps, nearly twice as many as the number they used in 2010. It took roughly a week to build.

According to the locals, serving lobster for celebrations or during the holidays is a tradition older than America itself.  The lobster  trap Christmas tree is just another way to celebrate the tradition.

A television segment about the Lobster trap Christmas trees  is scheduled to be aired on The Learning Channel at 9 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 10.

© Wayne Howe 2011

 

Fishermen Lobster Maine

Maine Lobster Boat “Retires” to New Life as Boston Party Boat

Posted on October 26, 2011

What happens when a Cranberry Isle, Maine lobster boat retires after 45 years of lobster harvests and fish seasons and takes on a new life as a party boat right in the heart of Boston harbor’s vibrant new seaport district?

The Belle slips by the Northern Ave. swing bridge in Boston Harbor one summer evening.

Not so surprisingly, according to the cruise operators Charlie Gibbons and Diana Adame, the old lobster boat seems to have found the perfect new home.  Refurbished with attention to detail and lovingly set up to accommodate guests, the 50-foot “Belle” sparkles under the bright city lights.

“The boat was well known and fished for years out of Gloucester and even spent time in Connecticut,” said Captain Gibbons, a former tow boat captain and fisherman.  “I have worked these waters for 30 years and now I want to be able to share my knowledge and offer people a good, fun time.”

Boston Fun Cruises currently embarks from the wharf behind the Barking Crab Restaurant. The vessel is tucked behind the old Northern Avenue swing bridge.  Each cruise begins with the mighty bridge swinging its creaky, old iron rails open so the “Belle” can slip through.

Guests enjoying Boston Harbor Fun Cruise as they pass  the World Trade Center

With long sweeping lines, wide working decks and a heavy wooden canopy that stretches from the helm nearly to the stern, the boat provides an intimate vantage for up to 40 passengers.  The foredeck is deep and comfortable allowing guests to sit or stand and safely enjoy an open-air view.

The “Belle” being built on Cranberry Isle, Maine in 1965 The “Belle” being refurbished at Rose Marine in Gloucester, Mass.

On a recent Sunday evening trip, passengers enjoyed views of everything from the new hotels and restaurants by Liberty Wharf to the imposing, brightly lit downtown skyscrapers.  A sunset canon salute was even observed while passing “Old Ironsides” in Charlestown; the USS Constitution is the oldest commissioned vessel in the US Navy.

 

To some observers, the Belle is easily recognizable as a Beals Island design, the type of seaworthy fishing vessel that has plied the waters of downeast Maine since the 1950s.   Gibbons said his boat was built in 1965 by boat builders Beal, Bunker and McCallister on Cranberry Isle. Both places are near one another and are famous for their lobster, lobster boats and lobster fishermen.

Harvesting thousands of tons of lobster and fish over all its years, the vessel finished up its fishing career in Gloucester, Mass and was refurbished in 2011.

“We did our restoration on the railways at Rose Marina in Gloucester,” Gibbons said. “With her mahogany and oak planking and all the extras used to prepare her for going to sea, you couldn’t afford to build a boat like this today.”

Boston Fun Cruises is scheduled to operate in spring, summer and fall with a special New Years Eve 2011 harbor cruise scheduled so guests may observe Boston’s famous fireworks.

© Wayne Howe 2011