Cooking Lobster Tails - Boiling. To cook lobster by boiling, you first need to insert a wooden skewer down the length of each lobster tail so they will not curl during the cooking process. Fill a large sauce pan or a stock pot about 2/3 full and add about 1 teaspoon of salt for each quart of water. Place the pot over high heat until the water is boiling. Place the lobster tail(s) into the pot and continue boiling for: 3 minutes for three ounce tails. 4 minutes for four ounce tails.