Fresh, healthy lobsters will keep in the refrigerator for 48 hours in a paper bag, large bowl, or in an empty vegetable drawer with newspaper dampened with ocean water and seaweed. Do not use regular water, which can kill them.
Snip off the claw bands before you cook lobsters. Bands impart an off taste to the water.
If lobsters are not moving, they may not be alive. Prod them gently with tongs to see if they move. Do not cook dead lobsters.
Instead of boiling lobsters, which water-logs them, steam lobsters in a couple inches of boiling water. Use the cooking liquid for chowder.
In Maine, lobster for rolls is mixed with only enough mayonnaise to hold the meat together, then stuffed into a buttered, toasted top-loading bun. No other ingredients.
