Klenda Seafood has recently opened its Online Market and is now taking orders to deliver fresh, sustainably harvested Maine lobster and other seafood from the Gulf of Maine. Customers can buy live lobster or delicious hand-picked lobster meat directly online for express shipping to their door. Orders are shipped via 24hr express shipping through Fed-Ex or UPS or by air cargo shipping FOB out of Boston Logan International Airport through Southwest Airlines. Local customers can still order curbside pick up or deliver it to their homes, business, or office. Below, we explain what you can expect with your online orders, how to keep lobsters alive at home before cooking, and some cooking tips for the most delicious lobster!
Ordering Live Lobsters: What Can You Expect?
Though Klenda Seafood has always had shipping available for its customers, our online ordering offers a more streamlined process for easy access. You can expect the best from us—in the quality of service and seafood. Maine has one of the best-managed and maintained fisheries in the world. We follow the sustainability and traceability practices that Maine has established to provide our customers with responsibly-harvested products.
How to Keep Lobsters Alive At Home Before Cooking
If you plan to wait one to two days before preparing them, you can keep the lobsters alive by placing them in your refrigerator. They must be kept cool and covered. Do not place them in fresh or “homemade” saltwater; it will kill them. Clear out a vegetable drawer or place them in a pot with a slightly ajar lid for air circulation and maintain moisture. Under these conditions, your fresh, live lobsters will keep in the refrigerator for a day or two. If any lobster ordered should have died in transit for some reason, do not cook them and contact Klenda.
How to Cook a Lobster
There are a handful of ways to cook a lobster—steamed, boiled, baked, or grilled—primarily. The more common method is to steam or boil them. The ratio of lobster to the pot, weight, and length of time steamed or boiled all factor into cooking them. You can learn how to do that here!
With a little extra effort, lobsters can also be baked or grilled. Prep for baking and grilling lobster are similar. Each method requires parboiling the lobsters for 3-5 minutes and then plunging them in cold water for several minutes to stop further cooking. Cut the lobster lengthwise for baking, place it on a sheet, baste it with a bit of olive oil, and bake at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes. Learn how to grill your lobster here!
How to De-shell a Lobster
De-shelling a lobster is not as difficult as it may first appear. Like any job, having the right tools and knowing what to do with them will make all the difference. For lobster, a metal cracker to split the shell and a fork or a metal pick to pull the meat out are all that is needed. Once the lobster has cooled enough to handle, separate the parts from the body and begin to de-shell in segments. Learn about the art of de-shelling here!
Hard Shell or Soft Shell?
The hardness of a lobster’s shell depends entirely on the time of year, as it relates to when the lobster molts, during springtime and early summer. By midsummer, an oversized soft shell has formed for the lobster to grow into. That shell will gradually harden in the coming months for winter. Learn more about the variation between hard shell and soft shell here!
The thickness of the lobster’s shell may be a consideration when ordering live Maine lobster. Hard-shell lobsters do travel better than soft-shell ones. Soft shell lobsters can undoubtedly be shipped, but they are more vulnerable once removed from their environment because of the newly formed exoskeleton.
Whether hard shell or soft shell, you can order live lobsters or fresh-picked meat online anytime. For the freshest live lobster from Maine, look no futher than Klenda Seafood – we deliver directly to your door! We also offer curbside pick-up at our South Portland location if you live locally – call for details and to place your order over the phone.