Baking. Place swordfish in a greased baking dish or wrap in oiled foil and place on a baking sheet. Brush with melted butter, season with salt and pepper or cover with a piquant sauce, and bake in a medium oven for about 20 minutes.

Grilling. Place steaks or kebabs on a well greased grill pan and place under grill for about 6-10 minutes, turning once.

Pan frying. Fry swordfish in butter or olive oil, turning once. Cook for about 4-8 minutes until fish is opaque and moist on inside.

Stir-frying. Cut swordfish steaks into bite size pieces and coat in wholemeal flour. Stir fry gently and briefly in hot olive oil and then add to your favourite stir fired vegetables.

Poaching. Place enough water in a large frying pan to cover fish, add seasoning of choice, dill is good. Bring to boil then add fish, cover pan and simmer for about 8 minutes.

Grilled Swordfish (serves 4)

Ingredients. 4 swordfish steaks. 1/4 cup lemon juice. 2 tbs. water. 1tbs. olive oil. 2 cloves of garlic, crushed. 1/3 cup fresh chopped parsley. Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.

Wash steaks and pat dry. Place in a large covered dish. Mix together all above ingredients to make marinade and pour over fish.Place in refiregerator and marinate for at least one hour and no more than 12. Oil grill rack and place swordfish under a hot grill for 4-5 minutes per side until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork.

Serve with sauteed potatoes and fresh green salad.

You can now turn up heat until water reaches a gentle simmer and cook lobster for around 8 minutes a pound.

Drain and plunge into iced water. Let it cool in there before draining again and transferring to fridge until needed.

The lobster will reward you for this kindness by being succulent and tender. It won’t be stuffed with adrenalin and its meaty fibers will not have contracted into something resembling India rubber. The next step is to cut lobster in half and to clean it.

Lay it on its back and use a strong, very sharp, knife to cut it in half from tail to head. You will easily see stomach bag at back of head and blackish gut running length of body. Remove these and discard.

You may also, if you wish, discard greenish liver, although aficionados hold this to be a delicacy. It’s certainly edible, but personally I chuck it because I don’t like color.

And that’s it. You can now serve your lobster cold with some freshly made mayonnaise, or indulge in one of more fanciful hot dishes for which some restaurants have become famous.