As this handsome scarlet king doesn’t like the chilly winter temperatures in Brittany, it hibernates in a carefully chosen hole. In April, it emerges from its hiding place. This is when it falls into the lobster pots, if they are set in the right places. Lobster is available until November. Lobster is at its best in June and July. On the Emerald Coast, my wild fish-tank, the best catches are made in a triangular area between Cap Fréhel, Les Minquiers and the Point du Grouin.

If you love lobster, you should follow a few rules: first of all, buy it live. If it has spent too long in a tank, like the imported crabs, it will foam, a sign of stress, which will have made its flesh cottony. Another sign of quality: the antennae, which should be as long as possible, and even reach past the end of its tail. Live, outside the tank, it will keep for 24 hours in the vegetable compartment of the refrigerator, under a layer of wrack.

There are many ways to appreciate lobster: in subtle sauces with spices, à l’américaine, à l’armoricaine, with a chutney that is sweet, salty and spicy. But the simplest is perhaps the most perfect: grilling it, or better yet roasting it on a skewer over a wood fire while collecting the powerful and aromatic cooking juices. First, plunge the lobster into a large pot of boiling salted water, which minimises its suffering and causes the blood to coagulate along its shell, preventing it from drying out. Then, it’s a matter of bringing together the sumptuous red of the lobster and that of the fire’s primitive magic. This is more than cooking, it is a ritual.