Sous Vide Lobster Tail: Temperature and Time

Sous vide lobster tail cooks at 130°F (54.4°C) for 20 minutes to 1 hour for tender, succulent meat. For a firmer texture close to steamed lobster, use 140°F (60°C) for the same time. The meat comes out of the shell before it goes into the bag.

Temperature and texture

The calculator has three settings for lobster tail. The time is the same for all three.

How to choose:

• Soft and translucent, 120°F (48.9°C). Anova's lobster guide describes the center at this temperature as lightly translucent, with a slick texture like sashimi.
• Tender and succulent, 130°F (54.4°C). This is the default. The same guide describes it as fully firm and meaty, but much more tender than lobster cooked by traditional methods.
• Traditional firm, 140°F (60°C). This is close to the texture of steamed lobster. Pick it if you want lobster that is fully firm.

The default sits below 131°F (55°C), so it carries the calculator's warning for low temperature cooking. Read the safety section before you choose it. The 120°F (48.9°C) setting carries the same warning and also leaves the flesh translucent, which is short of the USDA guidance to cook lobster until pearly or white and opaque.

Shrimp use a similar set of temperatures with a shorter time, as the shrimp guide shows.

Time

Thickness is not an input for lobster tail. The calculator ties the time to size: the times are for the shelled tail of a 1.5 lb (680 g) lobster, the 20 minute minimum is for a tail of that size, and tails from heavier lobsters need the long end of the range.

Do not go past 1 hour. At 120°F (48.9°C) and 130°F (54.4°C) that is also the safety limit in the warning. Anova's guide adds a texture reason: lobster held too long in the bath turns mushy.

Other seafood works differently. A fish fillet is timed by its thickness, which the fish temperature chart covers.

Removing the meat from the shell

The calculator's note says to parboil the tail in boiling water for 1 to 1.5 minutes so the meat releases, move it straight to an ice bath, then take the meat out of the shell before bagging.

Anova's guide explains the parboil and the shelling.

Why parboil. Raw lobster meat is very soft and delicate, and it is hard to get out of the shell without damage. A short boil lets the meat release from the shell. The guide moves the tail straight into an ice bath afterward.

Why the shell comes off. The guide warns that the shell has sharp points that can puncture the bag. Its concern is butter and lobster protein leaking out and fouling the circulator.

The guide's method for the tail:

1. Push two wooden skewers along the length of the tail, close to the shell, before the parboil. They keep the tail from curling.
2. Boil for 1 to 1.5 minutes, then move the tail straight to an ice bath.
3. Squeeze the sides of the shell together until it cracks.
4. Pull the sides of the shell apart. The meat should come out easily.

America's Test Kitchen skips the parboil. Its butter-poached lobster tail recipe cuts lengthwise through the softer shell on the underside with kitchen shears, cracks the outer shell open and lifts the raw meat out.

Butter in the bag

The calculator has no input for butter. It is a flavor choice.

Both recipes use it. The recipe J. Kenji Lopez-Alt wrote for Anova bags the meat of two 1.5 lb (680 g) lobsters with 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter and 2 sprigs of tarragon. Anova's guide gives the reason as flavor: the butter clings to the lobster and stays on it until you eat it.

The bag does not need a vacuum sealer. Anova's guide seals the bag with the water displacement method.

How to cook lobster tail sous vide

1. Thaw frozen tails before you start.
2. Heat the bath to the temperature for the texture you want.
3. Parboil and chill. Skewer the tails, boil for 1 to 1.5 minutes and move them straight to an ice bath.
4. Remove the shell and pull out the skewers.
5. Bag the meat with butter. Lay the tails in a single layer and remove the air.
6. Cook for 20 minutes to 1 hour. Use the long end of the range for tails from lobsters heavier than 1.5 lb (680 g).
7. Serve right away. Anova's recipe serves the meat with warm clarified butter and lemon.

If the lobster is going on a plate with steak, start the steak first. A 1.5 in (3.8 cm) filet mignon needs at least 2 hours 15 minutes at 131°F (55°C) in the calculator, and the filet mignon guide covers that cook. The lobster needs 20 minutes to 1 hour.

Frozen lobster tails

The calculator's rule is short: times are for thawed tail meat out of the shell, so thaw frozen tails first. It gives no from-frozen time for lobster. If you tick "Cooking from frozen", the times stay the same and that note appears.

Frozen tails are still a usable starting point. Anova's recipe says frozen lobster tails will work if you cannot get live lobsters, and to ignore its instructions for the claws.

The FDA's seafood safety page gives two ways to thaw seafood without cooking it: overnight in the refrigerator, or sealed in a plastic bag and immersed in cold water. It also advises against buying frozen seafood with frost or ice crystals in the package, which can mean it was stored a long time or thawed and refrozen.

Some foods can go into the bath frozen with extra time. The guide to cooking sous vide from frozen covers which ones.

Safety

None of the three settings is pasteurized. The warnings below are the calculator's.

At 120°F (48.9°C) and at the default 130°F (54.4°C):

At 140°F (60°C):

USDA guidance for lobster is to cook until the flesh is pearly or white and opaque. The FDA page describes cooked lobster the same way: the flesh becomes firm, pearly and opaque.

The FDA also says not to leave seafood out of the refrigerator for more than 2 hours, or more than 1 hour when it is above 90°F (32°C). The reasoning behind the 131°F (55°C) line is covered in is sous vide safe.

Common problems

The meat tears or sticks to the shell. Raw lobster meat is soft and delicate, which is what the 1 to 1.5 minute boil is for. Give the tail the full parboil before you shell it.

The tail curled. Anova's guide uses the two skewers to prevent this. Put them in before the parboil.

The meat is mushy. Anova's guide says lobster held too long in the bath turns mushy. Keep to 1 hour or less.

The center of a large tail is underdone. The 20 minute minimum is for the tail of a 1.5 lb (680 g) lobster. A tail from a heavier lobster needs the long end of the range.

The bag leaked. Anova's guide names sharp shell as the risk to the bag. Check the meat for shell fragments before bagging.