National Lobster Day
If anything gets you move during the National Today, it’s the food holidays, and this National Lobster Day has already got everyone’s mouth watering. Imagine the red golden lobster that is sitting upon the bed of rich, creamy infused with that goodness of eggs, nutty scents of nutmeg and cayenne pepper, and the dash of sherry… definitely delish, isn’t it? Some other sides of the recipe that call for the additions of butter, however, whatever the slight changes will be, Lobster of itself, is a really iconic dish in this culinary world. A very interesting fact about this popular dish is that, this was not invented by the honed professional chef, for this is invented by one sea Capt. Ben Wenburg and gave this day the National Lobster Wenburg Day!
HISTORY OF NATIONAL LOBSTER DAY
Being the sea captain, it has been natural for Capt. Ben Wenburg to become friends with the sea with every secret it has during his vast travels. Seafood had also been the main side of his diet, same with the other seafarers’. The factors mixed with limited access with food items, had led to Wenburg’s exceptional creation of the Lobster Wenburg. Lobster Newburg, now was initially named as Lobster Wenburg.
Capt. Wenburg goes on to remake his dish while fronting Chef Charles Ranhofer and Charles Delmonico, the former being an owner of the New York-cafe, the Delmonico’s. This chef and his group made little changes to the recipe just before placing it up on their menu, and name this “Lobster ala Wenburg.” Many of the patrons of café loved the latest menu addition that it became a direct hit. But, following the argument between Delmonico and Wenburg, the dish was unluckily removed.
Yet, everything was not lost when at sea. After that much demand and persuasion from the customers of the café, Delmonico brought this dish back, however, this time it is called “Lobster Newburg.” This lobster dish once more took off and then took the business back into the shore of the cafe. It is to note that there’s no set date when was exactly the initial Natl. Lobster Newburg Day has been celebrated. The people celebrated the day through indulging in this dish and reaping every benefit of this mighty lobster.
BODY DESCRIPTION OF LOBSTERS
Lobsters are invertebrates that had a tough protective exoskeleton. Just like most arthropods, the lobsters must shed for it to grow, that left them vulnerable. During its shedding process, some of the species change their color. Lobsters have their eight walking legs; at the front three paired bear claws, the initial of them which are bigger with the others. The lobster’s head also bears the (typically stalked) compound eyes. Since the lobsters mostly live in the murky environment at the bottom side of the ocean, and so they are mostly used their antennae as their sensors. The lobster eyes had the reflective structure over the convex retina.
The lobsters, like spiders and snails had the blue blood because of the presence of the hemocyanin that contains copper. Lobsters possessed the green hepatopancreas, known as the tomalley by chefs that functions as the liver and pancreas of the animal.
COLORING
Normally, lobsters are dark in color, either greenish-brown or bluish-green, to blend with the floor of the ocean, however, they can be seen in lots of colors. Lobsters with atypical color are really rare, accounting for just a few of those millions caught each year, and because of their rarity, they normally are not consumed, instead being set back into the wilderness or being donated to aquariums. Usually for the instance of atypical color there is the genetic factor like albinism. Special coloring doesn’t appear to affect a lobster’s taste once it’s cooked; except for the albinos, all lobsters possessed astaxanthin that is responsible for its bright red color lobster turn after it’s cooked.
LOBSTERS COLOR
Albino – also known as translucent, ghost, crystal and white.
Blue – caused by some genetic defect
Cotton candy – also named as pastel and the possible sub-type of albinos.
Halloween – a sub-type from the split-colored, specifically black and orange.
Split-colored – almost every split-colored are hermaphroditic.
Other colors are Calico, Orange, Red and Yellow.
LONGEVITY
Lobsters can live up with an estimation of 45-50 years old in the wild, even though determining age has been hard. It is typically expected from size and some other variables. The new techniques will lead to the even more accurate age estimation.
The researcher suggested that lobsters will not weaken or lose slow down fertility with age, that the older lobsters can be more fertile when compared with the younger. This longevity can be due to the telomerase, the enzyme that repairs the long, repetitive areas of DNA sequences in its chromosomes end and referred to as the telomeres. The lobster longevity has been limited to sizes. Molting will require the metabolic energy, and a bigger lobster will need an even more energy. There is about 10-15% of the total lobsters that are dying due to exhaustion during molting, whereas with the older lobsters, molting ceased and the exoskeleton collapses or degrades totally that lead to death. Lobsters can grow throughout life which can add a new muscle cell in every molt. The longevity of lobster allows them to attain an impressive size. From the record of Guinness, the biggest lobster caught was weighing 20.15 kilos or 44.4 lbs. in Nova Scotia, in Canada.
KILLING METHOD
Several methods are being used when killing lobsters. Its usual means of killing is through placing them live to the boiling water, sometimes right after being placed inside the freezer for some period of time. Another means is to split a lobster or cut the body to half lengthwise. Lobsters can be killed also or immediately immobilized it before boiling by the stab into its brain (pithing) with a belief that it will stop the suffering. But, a lobster’s brain is operating from not a ganglion, but more ganglia and disabling only its frontal ganglion doesn’t normally result in death.
The boiling method has not been legal in some places, like in Italy, specifically in Reggio Emilia, where offenders are facing fines of up to €495. The lobsters can be slays through electrocution prior to the cooking with the device known as CrustaStun. The Swiss administration banned boiling lobster alive without initially stunning them. Since March 2018, the lobsters in Switzerland needed to be knocked down first or killed instantly, just before they’re prepared. They will also receive some other forms of security while in transit. Strange, isn’t it?!
AS FOOD
Lobster is normally served steamed or boiled in the shell. The diners crack the lobster shell with the lobster crackers and then fish out the lobster meat with the lobster picks. The lobster meat is usually eaten with lemon juice and melted butter. Lobster is also famous to use in bisque, lobster rolls, soup, cappon magro, and the dishes like lobster Thermidor and the lobster Newberg.
Steam live lobsters or cooks boil and when a lobster is already cooked, the shell’s color will change from blue to the original orange color that we know because the heat when it is cooked which breaks down the protein known as crustacyanin, which suppressed the orange hues of a chemical astaxanthin that is being found also in the shell.
