Name: Lobster a LA Newburq
Ingredients: 1 pint lobster; ½ pint cream; 3 egg yolks; ⅓ cup sherry; ½ teaspoon salt; pinch of red pepper

Why it works: Lobster and cream 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 a LA Newburq

Ingredients

Directions

Make the sauce

Combine cream, sherry, and beaten egg yolks in a chafing dish over boiling water.
Cook while stirring steadily until the sauce thickens.

Finish and serve

Add the lobster and heat through.
Season and serve.
Optionally, serve extra sherry on the side for individual preference.

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.

Lobster + creamtop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,050 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Sherry + peppertop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,107 recipes

Shared aroma: piperonal (bitter, coconut).
Cream + sherrytop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together2,038 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).
Cream + peppertop 23% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together21,449 recipes

Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Cream + eggtop 24% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together42,166 recipes

Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Cream and pepper barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 21,449 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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 sauce as they cook gently, giving it a smooth, rich body.
Cream: Forms the base of the sauce and adds richness and a silky mouthfeel.
Lobster: Provides the main flesh of the dish, gently warmed through in the finished sauce.
Sherry: Adds acidity and aromatic depth that balances the richness of the cream and yolks.

The step that matters

Cook while stirring steadily until the sauce thickens. Egg yolks set at around 70°C, and they can scramble if heated too fast or left unstirred. Gentle, constant stirring over simmering water keeps the sauce smooth and thickened rather than grainy.

“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.