Why it works: Sherry and brandy match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and 1,209 recipes mention both. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓
The recipe
Ingredients
Contains: egg, milk, tree nuts, shellfish (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Also mentioned in the method: walnut
Directions
Cook the lobster
Put the lobster head-first into a pot of boiling water and boil for 15 minutes.
Remove the lobster and allow it to cool.
Remove the meat from the shell and cut it into square pieces about the size of a walnut.
Make the sauce
In a stewpan, combine the lobster pieces, sherry, brandy, and butter.
Add a little cayenne and let it boil for 5 minutes.
In a bowl, mix the cream, egg yolks, and a little butter.
Stir the mixture into the lobster while it is boiling.
Do not let it boil again after adding the cream.
Serve
Serve in a very hot dish.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Sherry + brandytop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together1,209 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Lobster + creamtop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together1,050 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Cream + buttertop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together41,494 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Sherry + buttertop 6% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together3,505 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Brandy + buttertop 6% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together5,127 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Lobster
- Provides the main protein, whose texture firms and turns opaque when cooked.
- Cream
- Adds richness and a smooth, silky body to the sauce.
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the cream mixture into a smooth custard-like sauce when heated gently.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a rounded, savoury flavour.
- Sherry
- Adds acidity and aromatic depth that balances the rich cream.
The step that matters
Do not let it boil again after adding the cream. Egg yolks in the cream can curdle and turn grainy when boiled, so the sauce should be heated only until it thickens.
“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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