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Lobster a LA Newberg

A creamy lobster dish with butter, milk, sherry, and egg, seasoned with salt and cayenne pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Lobster a LA Newberg

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Melt the butter in a chafing dish.

  2. Add the cooked lobster and heat until hot.

  3. Slowly add the milk and sherry.

  4. Season with salt and cayenne pepper to taste.

Thicken and finish

  1. Dissolve the cornstarch in a little milk and thicken the mixture.

  2. Just before serving, stir in the beaten egg.

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. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  2. Butter + sherrytop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,505 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  3. Milk + sherrytop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,479 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine (cocoa, roasted).

  4. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Butter + lobstertop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,609 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Butter
Adds richness and fat, carrying flavour through the warm sauce.
Cooked lobster
Forms the main protein and provides the sweet, rich seafood flavour.
Milk
Provides the liquid base of the sauce and adds creaminess.
Sherry
Adds acidity and aromatic depth that balances the richness of the sauce.
Cornstarch
Thickens the liquid into a smooth sauce as it heats.
Egg
Enriches the sauce and adds body and a silky texture when stirred in.

The step that matters

Stir in the beaten egg just before serving. Egg proteins set when heated, so if the sauce is too hot or simmers after the egg goes in, it can curdle or turn grainy. Adding the egg last, off the heat or at low heat, keeps it smooth and silky.

“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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