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Lobster a LA Newberg

A lobster dish with butter, salt, pepper, Madeira or sherry, egg yolks, cream, milk, and cornstarch.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 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 Newberg

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the lobster

  1. Split the lobsters, remove the meat from the shells, and cut it into 1‑inch pieces.

  2. Melt the butter over medium heat in a saucepan and add the lobster meat, salt, and red pepper. Cook for 5 minutes.

  3. Add the Madeira or sherry and boil for 3 minutes. Set aside.

Make the custard

  1. Beat the egg yolks until light in a separate bowl. Mix in the cream and milk.

  2. Heat the mixture in a saucepan until very hot. Stir in the dissolved cornstarch.

Combine and serve

  1. Combine the egg mixture with the lobster. Stir gently for 2 minutes.

  2. Serve in a hot tureen or chafing dish with hot plates ready.

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

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

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

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

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

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  5. Sherry + milktop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,479 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Lobsters
Provide the main sweet meat that forms the body of the dish.
Egg yolks
Thicken the cream mixture into a rich custard that coats the lobster.
Rich sweet cream
Adds richness and fat, giving the sauce a smooth, velvety texture.
Madeira or sherry
Adds acidity and aromatic depth, balancing the richness of the sauce.
Butter
Adds fat and flavor for cooking the lobster meat gently.
Cornstarch
Thickens the liquid so the sauce holds together without breaking.

The step that matters

Combine the egg mixture with the lobster. Egg yolks set when overheated and can curdle or turn grainy. Keep the custard hot but not boiling, and stir gently so the sauce stays 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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