Rock Lobster is one of Australia’s most premium and valuable seafood species... Here’s everything you need to know about the species, including how to cook and eat it!
What is a Lobster?
This question has a more complex answer than you might think!
Various crustacean species are called ‘lobsters’ around the world, from the classic American Lobster (Homarus americanus) that Aussies will mostly recognise from cartoons, to the Norway Lobster (Nephrops norvegicus), which we would refer to as Scampi or Langoustine, to what Australians call Rock Lobsters (Palinuridae), which are known internationally as crayfish or spiny lobsters.
Because we’re Sydney Fish Market, we’ll be talking about Rock Lobsters in this article.
Although Rock Lobsters superficially resemble American and European Lobsters in their overall shape and hard carapace, the two groups are not closely related. Rock Lobsters are easily distinguished from ‘true’ lobsters by their very long, thick, spiny antennae, and their lack of large front pincer-shaped ‘claws’.
Types of Rock Lobster 
There are four key species of Rock Lobster commercially available in Australia, and their names correspond to the regions in which they are primarily caught: Western Rock Lobster, Eastern Rock Lobster, Southern Rock Lobster, and Tropical Rock Lobster.
While their regional distribution is distinct, and Western Rock Lobsters are often smaller than the others, there aren’t many other differences between these species.
The key thing to consider when choosing which Rock Lobster species to eat is its regional proximity to wherever you’re eating it. In Sydney, Eastern and Southern Rock Lobsters are the most local choices, whereas in Perth, your local option would be a Western. Choosing local generally means a slight cost saving, as well as improved freshness due to shorter transport times.
Purchasing and Cooking
Lobsters are by far the most valuable commercial species in Australia (worth over half the value of total Australian finfish catch), and are mostly exported live or frozen to Japan, Taiwan or China.
In Australia, you'll either see Rock Lobsters for sale live, cooked, or frozen (uncooked). If you’re planning on cooking your lobster (say, on the barbecue), you need to buy it green, as re-heating already cooked lobster too vigorously can cause it to become tough.
It’s important to dispatch live lobsters humanely, according to the RSPCA’s guidelines (i.e., by placing in an ice slurry until insensible, then brain-spiking).
This process can be intimidating for the home cook, so if you’re unsure, we recommend purchasing either frozen or pre-cooked lobster.
Good quality frozen lobster can be carefully thawed, then treated like any other uncooked specimen... You can even eat it as sashimi!
If you’re buying cooked lobster, make sure to only heat it very gently (for example, by tossing it through a pasta at the very end of the cooking process), to maintain its famous flavour and texture.
Our best two tips for selecting a good specimen are to make sure that the shell is firm (this will indicate that the tail is full of meat) and to, wherever possible, choose the smallest Rock Lobster available. It is usually better (flavour-wise) to get a few 500g specimens than one that weighs 1-2kg.
Expect to pay between $80 and $150/kg year-round for good specimens. Such a premium species deserves a thoughtful approach, so whatever you do make sure that the Lobster is the star! We love Rock Lobsters as sashimi, in a salad, or in a pasta (where the sauce is made by simmering and reducing the Rock Lobster shells and organs)... Showstopping!