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Lobster Newburg

A lobster dish with butter, brandy, sherry, cream, egg yolks, and nutmeg.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Brandy and sherry are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,209 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Lobster Newburg

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut the lobster into small pieces.

  2. Heat the butter in a frying pan over medium heat.

Cook the lobster

  1. Add the lobster and cook slowly for 5 minutes.

  2. Stir in the salt, pepper, sherry, brandy, and nutmeg, and simmer for 5 minutes longer.

  3. Meanwhile, beat the egg yolks and mix in the cream.

  4. Pour the cream and egg mixture over the lobster and stir constantly for 1.5 minutes.

Serve

  1. Serve immediately.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Brandy + sherrytop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,209 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Lobster + creamtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,050 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  3. Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  5. Cream + nutmegtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,920 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Lobster
Forms the main body of the dish, providing its sweet, delicate meat.
Butter
Adds richness and carries flavor as it cooks the lobster gently.
Egg yolks
Thicken the cream mixture into a smooth, custard-like sauce when gently heated.
Cream
Adds richness and body, combining with egg yolks to form a silky sauce.
Brandy
Adds aromatic depth and warmth to the sauce.
Sherry
Adds aromatic depth and a slight sweetness and acidity to the sauce.

The step that matters

Pour the cream and egg mixture over the lobster and stir constantly. Egg yolks thicken when heated, but if the heat is too high or stirring stops, they can scramble and turn grainy. Constant stirring keeps the sauce smooth and evenly thickened.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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