Baked Stuffed Lobster

Ingredients

• 4 live lobsters, 1 1/2 lb each
• 1 1/2 sleeves Ritz crackers, about 3 cups crushed
• 10 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup finely chopped yellow onion
• 2 celery ribs, finely chopped
• 8 oz lump crabmeat, picked over
• 2 tbsp dry sherry
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1 lemon, cut into wedges

Before you cook

• Heat the oven to 425°F.
• Crush the crackers into coarse crumbs with your hands or a rolling pin.
• Finely chop the onion, celery, and parsley.
• Pick through the crabmeat for shell fragments.

Steps

1. Melt 6 tablespoons of the butter in a skillet over medium heat.
2. Add the onion and celery and cook for 6 minutes, until soft and translucent.
3. Stir in the sherry and cook for 1 minute more.
4. Take the skillet off the heat and fold in the cracker crumbs, crabmeat, parsley, and black pepper.
5. Lay a lobster on a cutting board and drive the tip of a heavy chef's knife straight down through the head just behind the eyes to kill it instantly.
6. Turn the knife and split the lobster lengthwise down the body and tail, cutting through the shell but leaving the back shell hinged.
7. Pull out and discard the stomach sac behind the eyes and the dark vein running down the tail.
8. Repeat the splitting with the remaining three lobsters.
9. Arrange the lobsters cut side up on two rimmed baking sheets and crack the claws with the back of the knife.
10. Mound the stuffing into the body cavity and along the tail of each lobster.
11. Melt the remaining 4 tablespoons of butter and drizzle it over the stuffing.
12. Dust the tops with paprika.
13. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the stuffing is deep golden and the tail meat is opaque.
14. Serve immediately with lemon wedges.