The link to this kitchen tool is not for those faint of heart. It is a device used for the quick and painless killing of fish and we believe might be really good for working with lobsters. When Dave and Nils from Cooking Issues became obsessed with the Ike Jime fish preparation technique and, as they do, went to extremes to refine and document the process, including locating and utilizing fish anethesisa, we sat up straight and began extrapolating ideas. Their research sparked ideas of what other fish and crustaceans could and should benefit from this sort of handling. My first thoughts were to lobsters and crabs. It turns out that they too had similar thoughts and have refined a technique, which they hang before us like a carrot tantalizing a horse here.
In any event, we have been working on lobster cookery and investigating a kinder killing method. The tool which caught my fancy is the Iki Jime tool, a curved spike used to totally destroy the brain of a fish instantly. If the spike works and can easily be applied to a lobster we may have a better way for killing lobsters for cooking. The technique is intended to delay rigor mortis, which in lobsters would include tail curling and flesh tightening. This may then allow for an incredibly succulent raw lobster preparation and excellent benefits in low temperature cooking.
*edited to add here is another piece of kitchen equipment which might do the trick as well
