Natural Science

.... me holding it, several years ago. We had a friend who was a Royal Navy diver in Cornwall and as a senior rank when out on the boats, the others worked while he hauled up sacks full of scallops (yes he used to bring us one or two large black bin bags FULL of scallops!!) and the odd lobster. He and his wife arranged dinner with us (me to cook as I was a chef for 20 odd years) and said he was bringing a lobster. Well .... when I saw it I nearly had a coronary. Ironically, just one week before on the south west TV had been an article about a trawlerman who had caught by accident in his nets what he thought to be a record lobster for Cornish waters at 10.25 pounds ..... and donated it to the Newquay Aquarium Centre.....ours weighed in at 11.5 pounds!!!!!!!!... and it was magnificent. Just to bore you a bit more I cooked it Thermidor style.

Beth adds:

Shame we don't have better images of the lobster - it was amazing. We fed 6 people as a main course with it - everyone had a healthy second helping, and there was enough left over for another two portions the next day. I remember being particularly nervous when Mo (the pup at the time) was showing a healthy interest in it on the floor - I don't think her nose would have survived too long with those pinchers!! The tendril bits - whatever they are called - felt like rat tails they were so thick.

We used to get so many scallops off this friend it was mental. He never turned up with less than two bin bags full. Horrible job getting them all de-shelled, but got quite adept at it in the end. There were times when it was "Oh no, not scallops again..." Even the cats and dogs were getting scallops twice a day. We used to freeze a load, but there are only so many scallops you can eat, even though I love them.

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