From grilled lobster comes a great chowder

You can get a plain, boiled lobster at so many places this time of year. Fish markets and many supermarkets will even cook them for you. If you want a grilled lobster — its succulent meat stuffed with fresh herbs — stay in your own backyard and light the grill. The shell chars while the meat becomes slightly smoky. Dan Cosby, a lobsterman in Penobscot Bay, Maine, and his wife, Amber Heffner, have perfected cooking lobsters over fire.

They steam the crustaceans first, let them cool, make slits in the claws and down the tail and stuff fresh herbs into the meat. The smoke doesn’t overpower the meat (it can’t penetrate the shells that much) but it adds a delectable taste to the sweet sea flavors.