Lobster, an insect of the sea.
There is apparently a recession happening now, thankfully no-one I know seems to be feeling any ill effects. The lobster fisherman are ‘up in arms’ about the low prices they are getting for their catch. The quote is, Lobster is a luxury food and no one is buying luxury right now. The media is largely reporting that, at the current price of lobster, it is no longer a luxury food and it’s even cheaper than beef! It annoyed me how many times the media made the “cheaper than beef” quote, so I thought I’d collect some numbers myself(That’s the only reason! (grin)).
This year, lobster was said to have dropped as low as $2 USD a pound in Maine, but Nova Scotia’s catch has been $3.50lb off the boat(for wholesale purchasers, $5.98 for the rest of us).
I often thought lobster weighed less after cooking, this appears to be untrue.
Raw Weight 2.026kg ( $26.93 )
Cooked Weight on home scale in 4 plastic bags: 2.062kg
Figure the extra weight is some of the water used in cooking, and the bags.
Our Empty Plate weighs: 287 grams (0.287 kg, 0.633lb)
Cooked Lobster(minus plate): 539 grams (1.19lb)
Most people who eat lobster only eat the front claws/arms and tail, the rest of the meat found in the legs, inside body, and tail-end is generally not worth the effort to extract, and if one did, it wouldn’t equal 1 quarter the meat found in 1 claw.
Weight of meat from Tail and front claws/arms(minus plate): 152 grams(0.335 lb)
So in this case, 28%((152 * 100) / 539) of the lobster is consumed meat.
Meaning 1lb(0.454kg) of lobster is 0.28lb of meat putting the price per pound of meat at approximately ((0.454 / 0.127) * 3.50) $12.51 for fisherman, and $21.38/lb for us grocery store shoppers.
Making Lobster, even today, more costly than the most expensive(and delicious) cut of Beef Tenderloin ($17/lb). Enjoy the luxury!
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