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 Newberg
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the lobster
Cut the lobster into small slices using a silver knife.
Cook
Melt the butter in a pan over medium heat.
Add the lobster slices, season with salt and a dash of red pepper, and pour in the sherry.
Cover the pan and cook for 5 minutes.
Beat the egg yolks with the cream and pour over the lobster.
Stir until it just begins to boil.
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.
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Lobster + creamtop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,050 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + sherrytop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,505 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Lobster + buttertop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked 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 sweet flavour of the dish.
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the cream into a smooth, rich sauce as they heat.
- Cream
- Adds richness and moisture, forming the body of the sauce with the yolks.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness, carrying flavour through the pan.
The step that matters
Stir the egg yolk and cream mixture until it just begins to boil. Egg yolks thicken when gently heated but can curdle and turn grainy if overheated. Stopping as soon as the sauce just begins to boil keeps it smooth.
“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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