Why it works: Cream and lobster are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,050 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-one, which smells mushroom, metallic. The science ↓
Lobster Newburg
Ingredients
Directions
Make the sauce
In a saucepan, melt the butter with salt and pepper over medium heat for a few minutes.
Remove from heat and stir in the beaten egg yolks and cream until well combined.
Serve
Serve immediately with toast or crackers.
Add mushrooms if desired.
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.
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Cream + lobstertop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,050 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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Butter + mushroomtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,525 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
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Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Pepper + mushroomtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together13,580 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Cream + mushroomtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,500 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the cream into a smooth, rich sauce as they set gently with heat.
- Cream
- Adds richness and body, giving the sauce its smooth, creamy texture.
- Butter
- Adds fat for flavour and a silky mouthfeel as the sauce is built.
- Lobster
- Provides the main seafood flavour and tender, meaty texture.
The step that matters
Stir the yolks and cream in off the heat. Egg yolks thicken at moderate temperatures but scramble and curdle if overheated. Removing the pan from the heat before stirring them in lets the sauce thicken smoothly.
“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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