Name: Lobster Newburg
Ingredients: 2 cups lobster meat; 1 cup cream; 2 tablespoons butter; 3 large egg yolks; ½ teaspoon salt; 1 tablespoon brandy; cayenne pepper to taste

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 Newburg

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

Melt the butter in a pan and sauté the lobster meat for 2 to 3 minutes.
In a bowl, beat the egg yolks slightly and add the cream.

Make the sauce

Add the cream mixture to the sautéing lobster and stir over boiling water until thickened, about the consistency of medium white sauce.
Stir in the brandy and season with cayenne pepper.

Serve

Serve on toast points or crackers.

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).
Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,516 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Lobster + meattop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together909 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Butter + brandytop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,127 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Cream + brandytop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together2,635 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).

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

What each ingredient does

Lobster meat: Forms the main body of the dish and provides its sweet, delicate flavor.
Egg yolks: Thicken the cream as they heat, giving the sauce a smooth, rich body.
Cream: Adds moisture and richness, and forms the base of the thickened sauce.
Butter: Adds fat and richness, and helps sauté the lobster meat.
Brandy: Adds aroma and a warm, complex flavor to the sauce.

The step that matters

Thicken the sauce gently over boiling water. Egg yolks set at around 160°F and can scramble if overheated. Stirring over simmering water, rather than direct high heat, lets the sauce thicken smoothly to a white-sauce consistency without curdling.

“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.