Smoked Lobster Tails With Fresh Celery Slaw

Prepare your smoker and heat it to 325°F.

Prepare the lobster tails: Use kitchen shears to make shallow cuts right down the middle of the tough tail shells.

Next, use your fingers to gently loosen the meat from the shell, making sure to just loosen it and not remove it entirely—you want to keep the tail meat attached at the base of the tail.

Lift the meat so it is resting on top of the split shell (again, keeping it attached at the base of the tail).

Use a sharp paring knife to make a shallow slit down the middle of the meat so that you can butterfly the tails and open them up like a book.

Drizzle the tail meat with the olive oil and season with salt and pepper.

Place the butterflied lobster tails in an aluminum baking pan.

Place the pan in the smoker, cover, and smoke for about 25 to 30 minutes, or until the lobster meat turns completely bright white and opaque and the tails begin to curl.

Meanwhile, prepare the salad: In a medium bowl, stir together the mayonnaise, lemon juice, celery, lettuce, and rub.

Set aside.

Timing is key here: When you’re ready to remove the lobster from the smoker, you don’t want to let it cool completely, or the meat will begin to toughen up.

So remove the lobster from the smoker, transfer to serving plates immediately, and for a dramatic presentation serve the tails in their shells next to the salad, drizzling the butter over the tail meat.

Alternatively, you can remove the tails from their shells and serve them directly on top of the salad with the melted butter drizzled over the top of the tails.