Now is a good time to start boiling water. Vast numbers of Maine lobster (Homarus americanus) are likely to flood the market in mid-July. Supply up, price down—it’s simple crustacean-omics. That means that guys like Ethan Turner and Deven Haskell will haul cage after cage from the coastal waters off Stonington, Maine. It’s a life that lobstermen love, harvesting a succulent protein you should love. Follow their journey in the slideshow below. Then eat (really, really) well.

Lobster meat tastes best when prepared simply, says Theresa Gove-Eaton, manager at the Harbor Cafe in Stonington, Maine. Boil the creature whole for 20 minutes (or until you can easily pluck a feeler from its face). Most people miss the meat in the body, fins, and legs, says Gove-Eaton. Drawn butter or lemon juice is optional.

Whether you prefer the northern lobster, with its meaty claws, or the more tropical spiny lobster, which is basically tail meat, make sure you eat yours fresh: This seafood spoils quickly, so buy it (alive) the day you plan to dine. Squeamish about killing ’em? Get over it. The sea bugs are cannibals! Put that pot on the stove!

Get to the Meat of It

You’ve conducted the lobster sacrifice. Now let Jeff Tunks, chef and co-proprietor of DC Coast in Washington, D.C., show you how to savor every luscious morsel of your kill.

1. Using your hands, pull out the “arms” of the lobster at the base of where they connect to the body. (The lobster’s left, “picker” claw usually pops out more easily than the right, “crusher” claw.) Then twist off the claws. The remaining pieces of the arms are called the “knuckles.”
2. The lobster knuckle is spiny. Save your digits and use a pair of kitchen sheers to snip along the length of the shell. Then dig out the protein. “I’m a big fan of the knuckle meat,” says Tunks. “It has a salinity and a sweetness to it. Most restaurants won’t serve the knuckles because they’re hard for the customers to open. That’s another reason to cook one at home.”
3. Release the meat from the claw by wiggling the pincer to release the cartilage. Then pull the pincer back to remove it from the claw. On a cutting board, place the lighter color side of the claw (this is the weaker side) facing up. Whap the center of the claw with the back of a chef’s knife so the shell splits but doesn’t splinter. Pull apart the shell with your hands; pull out the meat.
4. Don’t forget about the sweet meat in the pincer. You can try pulling this piece out with your fingertips, but you can’t free it, dig in there with a lobster pick or the narrow end of a chopstick.
5. Grasp the lobster’s body with one hand and the thickest part of the tail with your other hand. Twist the shells in opposite directions. You’ll see some orange or green stuff inside. That’s tomalley, the salty-sweet innards. To remove the meat, squeeze the shell hard enough to hear it cracking. Then flip the tail on it’s back, push apart the two sides of the shell, and remove the meat.
6. The eight legs of the crustacean house what Tunks calls “lobster spaghetti,” thin strips of succulent meat. “Remove the legs and place them on a cutting board. Then, starting from the tip of the leg, use a rolling pin to push out the meat,” says Tunks.