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Lobster a LA Newburg

A lobster dish cooked with butter, spices, sherry, egg yolks, and cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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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 Newburg

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the lobster

  1. Cut the meat from the lobster into inch pieces.

Cook the lobster

  1. Melt the butter in a chafing dish or saucepan.

  2. Add the lobster, salt, and cayenne or paprika.

  3. Cover and cook for 5 minutes.

  4. Add the sherry or madeira.

  5. Cook for another 5 minutes.

Finish and serve

  1. Beat the egg yolks and mix them with the cream.

  2. Stir the egg and cream mixture into the lobster until it thickens.

  3. Serve immediately to prevent curdling.

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. Lobster + creamtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,050 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  2. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

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

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

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

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Lobster + buttertop 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

Lobster
Provides the main protein and body of the dish, cooked gently so it stays tender.
Butter
Adds richness and fat that carries the flavour of the sauce.
Sherry or madeira
Adds acidity and aromatic depth that balances the richness of the cream.
Egg yolks
Thicken the sauce as they set with gentle heat, giving it a smooth, creamy texture.
Cream
Adds moisture and richness, and combines with the yolks to form a silky sauce.

The step that matters

Stirring the egg and cream mixture into the lobster. Egg yolks thicken when heated but curdle if they get too hot or boil. Keeping the heat low while stirring steadily produces a smooth sauce, which is why the dish should be served right away.

“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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