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Lobster a LA Newburgh

A lobster dish simmered in butter, sherry, brandy, cream, and egg yolks, finished with nutmeg, salt, and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Sherry and brandy 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 a LA Newburgh

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the lobster

  1. Remove the meat from the lobster shells and cut it into delicate slices.

Cook

  1. Melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat.

  2. Add the lobster and cook for 4 to 5 minutes.

  3. Stir in the salt, pepper, nutmeg, sherry, and brandy.

  4. In a bowl, mix the cream with the beaten egg yolks, then stir this mixture into the lobster.

  5. Serve as soon as the sauce thickens.

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. Sherry + brandytop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,209 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

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

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

  3. Wine + brandytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,427 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).

  4. Wine + buttertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,645 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).

  5. Sherry + buttertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,505 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 meat
Provides the main protein and sweet flavour of the dish.
Egg yolks
Thicken the cream sauce as they set with gentle heat.
Cream
Adds richness and moisture, combining with the yolks to form a smooth sauce.
Butter
Carries flavour and adds fat for a silky texture.
Brandy
Adds aroma and depth of flavour to the sauce.
Sherry wine
Adds aroma and a layer of flavour to the sauce.

The step that matters

Stirring the cream and yolk mixture into the lobster. Egg yolks thicken when heated but can curdle or scramble if the heat is too high or they are added without warming gently. Keep the heat moderate and stir constantly so the sauce thickens smoothly.

Swap the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (meat, lobster, sherry, wine, brandy, butter, pepper):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Nutmegthe original
  3. Tarragonfits about as well
  4. Clovefits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against meat, lobster, sherry, wine, brandy, butter, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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