- One Fish Story
4 Florida Spiny Lobster Recipes
Zachery Dyke
4 Florida Spiny Lobster Recipes
How I Got The Lobsters For These Spiny Lobster Recipes
Since the 2024-2025 Spiny Lobster season in Florida has officially come to an end, I figured I’d make a post about the last recipes I made with my final haul. I went out diving off of Dania Beach with a friend of mine, and I had every intent of taking my full limit of 6 so that I could freeze some to save for the off season.
That particular day, however, the pickings were pretty thin. We saw quite a few commercial divers out looking to get their last bits of the season and most of the lobsters I came across seemed on a much higher alert than usual. I also came across quite a few with eggs since it was late in the season, which obviously I couldn’t keep. I ended up with 4 lobsters total, which was more than enough because I knew how many meals I could make with them.
How I Made 4 Spiny Lobster Recipes From Only 4 Lobsters
With Florida Spiny Lobster, it’s more common than not to just twist off the tails and throw the remainder of the lobster back into the water. Most of their meat is in the tail and it’s very little work to clean them when you do things this way. This is how I used to clean my lobster, and honestly, it was because I didn’t know any better.
It wasn’t that long ago that I really started trying to stretch what I could do with the fish and lobsters that I took. Morally, as spearos and fisherman, I think we have an obligation to utilize as much of what we decide to harvest as possible. With these 4 lobsters I was able to pull out an additional 7 ounces of meat from the head, knuckle, and leg clusters. This is what allowed me to make more meals than just using the tail meat would allow.
It Doesn’t End There
After I took the meat out, which is definitely a tedious process by the way, I used the shells to make a lobster broth. This is something that I picked up within the last year. It was very daunting to me at first, but I soon realized that it’s actually very simple. Lobster broth also serves as a base for all sorts of recipes. Risotto, lobster bisque, lobster pho and lobster ramen are just a few ideas of what you can make with it.
Next season I am definitely planning on diving more into those types of recipes. I actually planned on making a lobster ramen as a 5th recipes with these for lobsters, but I ended up not having enough broth after making the Risotto for my Florida Spiny Lobster Arancini recipe.
Why It’s Important To USE MORE Of Your Harvest
I think the biggest point I am trying to get across here is the foundation of what Spearos Kitchen was built on: take less, use more. It might seem gimmicky, but the basic premise is that if I know that I can make 2 spiny lobster recipes for Brittany and I out of only 2 lobsters, maybe I don’t need to take as many lobsters as I once thought.
The same goes for fish, and everything else we harvest from the ocean. I don’t think “sustainability” can truly be measured when it comes to our vast oceans, but I do think how much we utilize of what we harvest can. We have some incredible dishes on our recipes page that show what is possible with parts of the fish and lobster that are commonly overlooked. Take a look at these spiny lobster recipes and see what you can come up with!
