The $16 Lobster Dinner - Video Review

On the East Coast, Lobster is king. And just last month I found a cheap$kate Lobster Dinner in Levittown, Pennsylvania for 16 bucks! Check out my video below for all the yummy details.

It pays to read the local grocery store ad flyers. This special was from Redner's Warehouse Markets, which ran the week of Father's Day. Holidays are a great time to land grocery deals like this one.

Redner's is a local grocery chain similar to any small town/city markets. I like local grocers because they carry seasonal produce you may only find in nearby orchards, gardens, and ranches or waterways, plus the holiday specials are one of a kind. 

Louisiana has Crawfish Season, and in California, Cherry prices drop in early summer, and Avocados are always on sale.

When I saw this Lobster Deal I had to make a video about it. A big 99 thanks to Linda for videoing and co-starring with the Cheap$kate Forager! 

Of course, thanks to Redner's Warehouse Markets. It's where I go for groceries when staying in my wife's hometown of Levittown, PA. You can read about their Pennsylvania 50-years plus history here. 

How was the $16 Lobster Dinner sale for Father's Day? Darn tasty. The dinner was cooked and ready to heat up. I removed the veggies and whole lobster from the container and steamed them. I would suggest steaming the corn and red potatoes for an extra 5 minutes, then adding the lobster to steam until warm/hot. Of course, you could eat the lobster meat chilled, or at room temperature.

The lobster tail was firm and sweet. Not as tender as fresh-steamed, but still delicious. I liked the claw flesh the best. They were large and loaded with tender, succulent meat. 

Pull on the tail to expose the large lobster fillet. I use kitchen shears to cut along the top of the shell, lengthwise, to remove the meat.

While the lobster tail was on the small size, the claws provided as much meat as the tail. I used a nut cracker to get it out. Seafood restaurants often provide a small wood mallet to whack the claws. 

All of the claw has tender meat, but it takes a little more digging to get to it.

If you've never peeled a lobster, there are a couple of things to watch for. Like a crawfish, which I grew up eating, the peeled tail meat may have a thin, gritty dark intestine vein along the top to remove.

The lobster claws have a tough, thin, opaque, thumbnail-size cartilage to slide off the meat. The pencil-thin walking legs have small strands of meat, as well. But they do take a bit of work to get at - detach and try squeezing out the meat with a bottle or rolling pin. 

Claw cartilage.

The middle body segment, closest to the legs, has a tiny amount of meat to fish out with a small fork or knife tip. 

 Click on any image to see larger.

In Louisiana, real local Cajuns detach the head from the tail, and suck the head. A lobster is a bit too large for that, but you can forage for the creamy, green Tomalley in the head/body segments. Chefs prize the Tomalley and add it to a Bisque, Chowder, or just spread it on a cracker like you would Pâté or Caviar.

The Tomalley is the pancreas and liver of the lobster. When you separate the top shell from the body, look for the green goo. It holds a tiny amount of toxins and is usually fine to eat in small amounts. I survived, but you may want to skip it, if you have medical issues.

My lobster's body had bright orange Roe, or tiny lobster eggs that pop with a briny, sweet flavor. 

For a clean presentation, rinse the tail meat closest to the body and trim any discolored tail strands.

The corn and red potatoes were steamed, like the lobster, in a broth that tastes of Old Bay Seasoning. That's the way we do it for a Louisiana backyard Crawfish Boil.

The corn was sweet and tender. The red potatoes were soft and well seasoned from the boiling bath.

 

A sweet Hawaiian Bread Roll was provided - a soft device for sopping up sweet and briny lobster juice.

I've learned to return the day and the day after a holiday sale ends to see if the price has dropped. And this one plummeted to $9 dollars! Since the meal was cooked, I didn't worry too much about spoilage, like iffy uncooked seafood can.

How does this Lobster Meal rate? While not as good as a fresh Lobster Boil, it held up quite well, especially for the price and convience. The meal had the right amout of seafood boil spiciness and salty/black pepper bite. 

The $16 Lobster Dinner from Redner's Warehouse Market was a tasty way to celebrate Father's Day, whether you're a dad, or not.

🍤 National Shrimp Day - Recipes & Reviews 🍤

My earliest edible memories are of Shrimp. I grew up on the Gulf Coast in a small sportsman's paradise town in Texas called Port O'Connor. We would have Shimp-based meals morning, noon, and night because my grandfather (on my mother's side) was a Shrimp boat captain.

Mom & Shrimp Boat in Port O'Connor, Texas

 Big Daddy would bring in a box or two of fresh-caught whole Shrimp from his Gulf expeditions during Shrimp Season to eat that week or freeze for later. 

Port O'Connor Shrimp 

We had Shrimp boiled, fried, and grilled. Looking back, I now realize how good we had it, but at the time, it was so normal that our version of a special meal was a hamburger, not seafood!

My Mom learned Tex-Mex Shrimp cooking, and the first recipe I remember was her Shrimp and Rice (click on any recipe name to see my recipe blog post), and always served with Homemade Pinto Beans.

It is a simple recipe, mainly Shrimp, rice, tomato sauce, and a few veggies like onion and garlic. Check out my Mom's recipe below and make it her way.

When I visit Port O'Connor these days, my favorite breakfast is a Shrimp Taco from a local restaurant called Josie's Mexican Food. The Shrimp Tacos are as large as a burrito and stuffed with shrimp, scrambled eggs, and jalapenos.

I highly recommend one if you are ever in the area; however, I do have a recipe so you can make your own anytime. 

Large Shrimp are expensive, but lately, I can get them at my local Latin Market Superior Grocers for less than 5 bucks per pound.

I do splurge for shrimp at my local big grocery store, Ralphs. I always check their cooked and peeled shrimp cold case for reduced prices. I like to heat them up with a little olive oil and any garden herbs I have, then pour them over cooked pasta.

Our family moved to Louisiana when I started high school. Now, Louisiana has its own way of preparing a Cajun Shrimp meal. My entry entree to Louisiana cuisine was the Po'Boy Sandwich. When I visit Louisiana now, I always go to Mike's Po-boys in Gonzales, Louisiana. My favorite is a Fried Shrimp and Oyster Po'boy Sandwich.

It is similar to a deli Subway Sandwich. Basically, a French bread roll plus fried seafood, dressed with lettuce, tomato, pickle, and mayo. 

Most fried seafood in the South has a cornmeal coating instead of flour, so the bites are extra crunchy. I have a Fried Catfish recipe that you can substitute with peeled Shrimp, just click here to see how we do it.

All along the U.S. coasts, most communities have Seafood Boils consisting of shellfish and veggies like corn and potatoes covered with water and flavored with a package of spicy spices. 

In Louisiana, they boil crawfish and shrimp with sausage, too. 

Normally, the veggies and sausage are boiled until done, then at the end add whole raw shrimp. Shrimp only takes 5 minutes to cook through. If you like your Shrimp spicy, turn off the heat and let them sit in the spicy broth for another 5 to 10 minutes.

You know how to peel a shrimp, right? Grocery stores sell their Shrimp peeled or unpeeled. Peeled shrimp are more expensive, so I usually buy shell-on and peel them myself.

If you buy shrimp with shells and heads, it's easy to pinch off the head first. Next, remove a couple of shell segments, peeling them away where the legs connect. Finally, pinch the tail and pull off the remaining shell. Your speed of peeling will get faster and easier with practice.

The dirty little secret of Shrimp is the digestive tract that runs along the back. Some Shrimp have them, and others may not show one. They taste a little like dirt. If you look along the back of a peeled shrimp, you can sometimes see the small black string of the digestive tract.

For boiled Shrimp, you obviously don't remove the digestive string. My Mom likes to remove them when she fries Shrimp. It's up to you if you want to remove it. Smaller Shrimp do not have one that you can detect.

If you peel a head-on Shrimp, look out for the sharp spine jutting from the top of the head when you go to pinch it off. It's sharp like the tip of barbed wire.

Louisiana has a couple of regional Shrimp recipes I know you will like from my nephew Matt, who cooks in Bergeron's City Market, an award-winning Baton Rouge restaurant.

Matt's recipe of Shrimp and Cheese Grits is the bomb! We always have a good time making cooking videos together, and sometimes things do get a bit out of control, as the video below will testify. I brought the beer, and Chef Matt barely got through the recipe due to my bad influence, so check it out below.

New England has Clam Chowder, and Louisiana has Shrimp and Corn Soup. Check out how Chef Matt makes this local specialty soup, so rich and creamy.

A Shrimp Slider is tiny and tasty. I used a small package of cheap cooked Bay Shrimp and mixed in mayo, bread crumbs, onion, celery, and some egg to make a Shrimp Patty. Click here to read all about it. 

Shrimp frozen meals are hit or miss, but I found a couple of good ones. The following frozen meal reviews use products I found a few years ago.

On my Cheap$kate Dining Scale of 1 to 9, 9 being best, my rating of Lean Cuisine's Shrimp & Angel Hair Pasta gets a....well, click here to read about the rating.

My next frozen Deal of the Day has a very high rating. Just how high is a click away, here. Shrimp & Orzo, courtesy of Contessa, packs a lot of flavor in a small bowl.

I'll leave you with a little levity. I once took a Vegas trip years ago when they had 99-cent Shrimp Cocktails in casinos. Seeing is believing, so make sure to check out my Vegas video below. The Shrimp Cocktail scene starts a couple of minutes in.