Last week, I received question after question about shrimp and lobster, so let’s tackle some crustaceans.

 

If you are attending a reception and decide you must sample some of the chilled shrimp that the host has mounded in an iced silver bowl, transfer a few of the shrimp to a small buffet plate. Then, assuming the tails remain attached, simply pick up the shrimp by the tail and nibble away. When done, place the tails back on the buffet plate or in a cocktail napkin.

 

If you are at a sit-down meal and have ordered shrimp cocktail, wait staff should bring you a shrimp fork and a small spoon. Pierce the shrimp with your fork, dip the shrimp into the cocktail sauce and eat. Alternatively, you may place the shrimp on a serving plate, spoon some sauce onto it, then use your knife and fork to eat. When you are done, the shrimp tails remain on the plate.

 

If shrimp is served as part of an entrée, and the tails remain intact, pierce the shrimp with your fork and cut the tails away.

 

As to lobster, before ordering it at a business lunch or dinner, confirm that the lobster will be served completely out of the shell. Dining on steamed lobster with shell intact can be a messy affair. Hence the bibs and wipes that wait staff normally deliver to the table along with nut crackers and lobster forks. Let’s agree, successful professionals (and anyone outside the age of three) by in large should avoid wearing a bib. Save the steamed lobster for your next get-away to the beach.