The Roman gourmet, Apicius set off on an epicurean journey in seach of African lobsters and shrimps when he heard that they were bigger than those from his city ponds.

Also called the Cardinal of the Sea, and Homard in Louisiana, New England and Canada.

Lobsters are graded in 3 sizes. The smallest averaging 1 pound each are called "chicken". The mediums range between 1 1/4 and 2 pounds and are called "quarters". And oversize lobsters which are up to 4 pounds, (rarely larger).

Freshly caught lobsters are brownish green, those caught on sandy bottoms have a tinge of red. There is also a blue mutation that is often farm raised.

How to eat a Lobster:

Split the lobster up the middle, dig out the tail meat and enjoy, then eat the liver, (that's the green stuff). Crack the big claws and dig out the meat. Then pull off the smaller legs one by one. Cracking them as you did the claws, but sometimes you can also pull each leg between your teeth as you would an artichoke petal, to get some sweet juice with a bit of meat at the end. Discard the rest of the leg. The shell should still have some melted butter and bits of meat, use bread to sop up this nectareous gravy to very last drop.

Recipes:

Boiled Lobster
Grilled Lobster Gourmet
Lobster Bellevue
Lobster Biarritz
Lobster Bohemienne
Lobster Cardinal
Lobster Court-Bouillon
Lobster Curry Risotto Crown
Lobster Figaro
Lobster Newburg I
Lobster Newburg II
Lobster Thermidor