Pair your grilled lobster with Backyard BBQ partner Alley Kat. (photo: Bethany Wypych)

Tips for Grilling Lobster on Your Barbecue

By AMA Staff

Despite its looks and luxe reputation, Atlantic lobster is relatively easy to barbecue.

All you need is a few ingredients—oil, salt, pepper, butter, and herbs. Chef Brad Smoliak, owner of Edmonton’s Kitchen by Brad, also adds wine and brandy to his grilled shellfish.

“I like to pan fry it on the barbecue because you get more carmelization, and the butter and brandy is cooked into the meat,” he says.

Smoliak recommends getting your lobsters at local fishmongers—such as Effin’ Foods or Ocean Odyssey Inland in Edmonton—but using frozen lobster tails are also an option.

Here are some prep and grill tips:

Blanch the lobster by boiling it for a few minutes, then chilling it on ice.

Slice the shellfish in half. Remove the head, scrape out the tomalley—or “goo,” as Smoliak calls it—from the body cavity, and rinse off the lobster pieces.

Take the claws, right at the knuckles, and break them off.

Heat up a pan on the grill for about 10 minutes. “You want it scorching hot,” says Smoliak. Make sure to wear gloves.

Add a thin layer of oil to the pan, then place the lobster shell down. “Doing so will almost steam the lobster for a few moments,” says Smoliak. “You want to cook all the water out.”

Add a little salt and pepper. Grill the lobster for about two minutes, shake the pan every so often. Add a little more oil if the pan dries up.

Flip the lobster over and give the pan another shake. Add a splash of white wine. Grill for another two minutes.

Add knuckles and claws to pan. Cook for two or three minutes.

Add a healthy splash of brandy to make a sauce. Smoliak recommends taking the pan off the heat while doing so. “You don’t want to lose your hair.” Cook for another two minutes.

Add butter. Turn lobster pieces over to make sure they’re well basted in the butter.

Plate and add some Maldon salt.

Serve with potato salad, corn on the cob and/or sourdough bread.

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