Name: Lobster a LA Newburg
Ingredients: 2 lbs lobster, boiled; 3 hard-boiled egg yolks, rubbed smooth; ½ cup cream or milk; 1 large tablespoon flour; 2 tablespoons butter; ½ teaspoon salt; a shake of red pepper; 1 grating of nutmeg; 2 tablespoons sherry or Melrose wine

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

Boil the lobster for 45 minutes, then remove the meat.

Make the sauce

In a bowl, mix the egg yolks with cream or milk until smooth.
In a saucepan, melt the butter and stir in the flour.
Heat the cream in a double boiler, then add the yolk mixture, salt, red pepper, and nutmeg.
Cook and stir until smooth and thick.

Finish and serve

Add the lobster meat and cook for an additional 10 minutes.
Just before serving, stir in the sherry or Melrose wine.

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).
Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together13,015 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,516 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,623 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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 sweet, firm meat that forms the body of the dish.
Egg yolks: Thicken the sauce as they set with gentle heat and add richness.
Cream or milk: Forms the liquid base of the sauce and adds richness and smoothness.
Flour: Thickens the butter and cream into a stable sauce that coats the lobster.
Butter: Adds fat and flavour and helps form the initial roux with the flour.
Sherry or melrose wine: Adds acidity and aroma that brighten the rich sauce.

The step that matters

Cooking the yolk mixture into the sauce. Egg yolks thicken at around 160°F and can scramble if the heat is too high or they are added to very hot liquid without stirring. Keep the heat gentle in the double boiler and stir constantly until smooth and thick.

Swap the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lobster, egg, cream, flour, butter, pepper, sherry):

Nutmegthe original
Tarragonfits about as well
Parsleyfits less well
Capersfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against lobster, egg, cream, flour, butter, pepper, sherry. 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.