Sørlandshummer
Prized cold-water lobster, halved and grilled with herb butter — the jewel of the southern autumn.
Cultural Context & History
The opening of lobster season in October is a near-sacred date on the south coast. Sweet, firm and deeply flavoured, the cold-water lobster is the region's most coveted catch.
Ingredients
- 1 fresh live lobster
- 35 g salt per litre of cooking water
- A bunch of fresh dill
- Butter, softened, for the herb butter714 kcal · 0 g protein · 78.6 g fat · 0 g carbs per 100 g
- White bread, to serve260 kcal · 8 g protein · 3 g fat · 48 g carbs per 100 g
Per-100 g values shown for ingredients verified against Nutrition data: USDA FoodData Central (snapshot 2026-09-11). Ingredients not yet verified show no nutrition line.
Recommended Tools
- Large stockpotHolds enough salted water to submerge the lobster fully.
- Kitchen tongsLowers the lobster in head-first without a splash.
- Heavy chef's knifeSplits the cooked shell cleanly down the centre.
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Step-by-Step Instructions
- 1
Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil with the salt and plenty of dill.
- 2
Lower the lobster in head-first, cover the pot, and boil for 15 to 20 minutes, until the shell turns bright red.
- 3
Leave the lobster to cool in its cooking liquid for 30 minutes so the meat drinks up the seasoning.
- 4
Split it lengthwise down the centre and lift out the dark vein and the gravel sac behind the head.
- 5
Serve cold, or lightly grilled, with herb butter and good white bread.
Chef's Tip
Settle the live lobster in the freezer for 15 to 20 minutes before cooking — it sedates the animal so it goes into the pot calmly.
Chef's Tip
Fold chopped dill through the softened butter and let it stand while the lobster cools, giving the herb time to perfume it.
How this page was made
- Written by
- The Norcook editorial archive. No individual author is named yet — see the editorial and food-safety policy for what that means and what has to happen before a byline appears.
- Content last checked
- — “checked” records an editorial check, not a qualified review. Where one exists, the recipe-specific review record appears in the food-safety callout.
- Regional context
- Sørlandet — the hub carries the wider background, the ingredient glossary and its own sources.
- Sources
- No page-level sources are recorded for this recipe yet. The cultural background above is written as general context, not as a sourced historical claim.
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