The kindest way to cook your lobster

SIR – Campaigners have urged Michael Gove, the Environment Secretary, to ban the boiling of lobsters while the creatures are still alive (report, January 31).

About 15 years ago I bought a lobster pot and, during the summer months, put it out on Bembridge Ledge.

However, when I caught my first legal lobster (they must be of a certain size), I suddenly realised that I had absolutely no idea how to cook it humanely.

I rang the RSPCA and asked to be put through to its lobster department. I was given the following method, which I have used ever since: place the lobster in the freezer for a couple of hours and it will go into a deep sleep, from which it will not recover if cooked quickly after that.

Don Webber

Bembridge, Isle of Wight

SIR – Can Mr Gove suggest how, after an energetic afternoon’s shrimping, I can humanely kill each crustacean before potting it?

Alan Spriggs

Lymington, Hampshire