The middling-sized ones are preferable to the very large ones; the meat
is more delicate; plain boiling in salt and water is all they require,
or sea water if it can be obtained; though the dressing of this fish is
so very simple you very seldom meet with them boiled to perfection;
often they are over done, then they have lost their succulence, and eat
tough and thready; but if, on the contrary, they are under done, they
are very unwholesome and unpalateable; to avoid this mistake I will here
give the proper time to boil them; put a lobster weighing one pound into
boiling water and let it boil a quarter of an hour; if the lobster
weighs two pounds it will require half an hour, and so on in
proportion; this is one of the most useful shell fish employed in
cooking, as may be seen by the different receipts for fish.