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Lobster Newberg has chunks of tender lobster meat in a rich and decadent cognac-cream sauce, served with toast points. It’s outstanding!
Hi everyone – Jack here. Lobster Newberg is a rich and decadent seafood dish. It’s a wonderful menu option if you are looking to serve a special meal for two for the holidays, a birthday, Valentine’s Day, or an anniversary.
This is actually a fairly simple dish to prepare. But both lobster and cream sauce are what I would call ‘delicate’ ingredients, so it can be easy to overcook Lobster Newberg – resulting in tough and chewy shellfish.
But don’t worry – if you follow the recipe below precisely, the end results will be stunning. The secret to making a perfect Lobster Newberg is to read through the recipe beforehand to familiarize yourself with the process, have all of the ingredients ready to go, and just take your time.
The History of Lobster Newberg
Although there are a couple of restaurants that claim to have created this amazing meal back in the 1800’s, most stories attribute this dish to Delmonico’s Restaurant in New York City. A wealthy sea captain named Ben Wenberg shared his recipe idea with Charles Delmonico, the restaurant manager at the time.
Intrigued by the idea, Charles Delmonico gathered all of the ingredients on the spot so that Wenberg could demonstrate how to prepare the recipe.
With its tender chunks of lobster in an amazing sauce – everyone agreed that the dish was delicious! After a few tweaks by the restaurant chef, Lobster a la Wenberg was added to the menu at Delmonico’s and quickly become a customer favorite.
A few months later, Charles Delmonico and Ben Wenberg had a falling out – and Lobster a la Wenberg was removed from the menu. But customers kept asking to order the dish, so it was renamed Lobster Newberg and added back to the menu to this day.
Lobster Newberg is often listed as Lobster Newburg – but either way you spell it, it’s absolutely delicious!
You may enjoy these other Lobster recipes:
- New England Lobster Roll
- Lobster Mac and Cheese
- Lobster Corn Chowder
- Lobster Sambuca Over Fettuccini
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Lobster Newberg
Ingredients
Prepared Toast Points, see recipe here
2 live lobsters, 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 pounds each or about 3/4 to 1 pound of cooked lobster meat
1 stick butter or 6 tablespoons clarified butter
3 tablespoons cognac or sherry*
1 cup heavy cream, plus more as needed *See Notes below
3 egg yolks, beaten
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
Pinch of freshly ground nutmeg **See Notes below
Pinch of cayenne pepper **See Notes below
Instructions
Prepare Toast Points (see recipe here) and set aside.
Fill large pot with water and bring to a boil. Add two live lobsters, head first into the boiling water.
Once it comes to a boil, time exactly eight minutes. Normally cooking time would be longer but the cooked lobster meat will be cooked further in this dish.
Discard water and plunge the cooked lobsters into an ice bath to cool them down quickly.
Let them sit in the ice bath for ten minutes then remove claw meat, tail meat and knuckle meat. Save shells in the freezer for future lobster stock but discard inner body.
Cut meat into bite sized pieces, leaving claws whole for appearance.
In a medium saute pan, melt the stick of butter over medium heat and leave on heat until the butter fat separates. Skim off and discard the butter fat and pour the now clarified butter into a cup stopping just before you get to the residue on the bottom. Discard that and return the now clarified butter to the pan. Or use 6 tablespoons of clarified butter if you normally keep it in your refrigerator.
Heat the clarified butter over medium heat and add the cooked lobster meat (if the lobster meat is wet it WILL splatter so make sure you pat the meat dry with a paper towel.)
Saute the meat for about two minutes until a little golden and tender. Do not cook any longer or it will get tough.
With a slotted spoon, remove the lobster meat to a bowl.
Off heat, add the cognac and return the pan to heat and cook for another minute.
Add the heavy cream and reduce the heat to a medium low simmer. (Heavy cream is one of the few dairy products that will not break under heat.) Simmer slowly until the mixture has reduced to about a cup.
Place the beaten egg yolks in a medium bowl and slowly drizzle in the hot cream mixture while you whisk. This tempers the eggs so they thicken the mixture without scrambling.
After the entire pan is drizzled into the bowl of egg yolks, scrape back into the pan with a rubber spatula and add the salt, nutmeg and cayenne. Stir and taste and ONLY add more nutmeg and cayenne if it needs more.
Add lobster meat back in along with any liquid in the bowl and stir over low heat just to heat the lobster through. Do not let it bubble after the egg yolks are in.
If the mixture is too intense in flavor, add a little more heavy cream to smooth it out.
Serve with Toast Points.
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Notes
**Start with just a pinch of nutmeg and cayenne pepper. You can always add more, but you can’t take it back.
*Buy enough heavy cream to smooth out the mixture if the flavor is too intense or if you added too much nutmeg or cayenne. I bought a pint instead of a cup and ended up using a little more at the end.
The original recipe used sherry and some other recipes use cognac. I like cognac in this dish vs. sherry but if you want to stay true, use sherry.
I just made this great recipe. It came out perfect & so tasty. It is a do over for sure. Very easy directions to follow. Thank you so much!!!! Love it.
So glad you enjoyed the recipe Debra!
I think that I will make this over buttermilk biscuit and pair it with steamed carrots and broccoli. This should be awesome
Sounds great!
I don’t serve with toast points, I take slices of bread, carefully “stuff” into muffin pan, to form a cup! I serve two of these, with the Newburg poured in and over a bit. I do this with creamed tuna, beef, stew, etc.!
Great idea!
I have access to several pounds of already cooked lobster meat. Could I use that instead of live lobster? This recipe looks awesome and we want to have it for NYE. Thanks!
Sure John!
We had to learn quite a few new things to make this but it made our 2020 small Christmas gathering memorable- in a good way for a change! We made the recipe with sherry, which we liked, but can’t compare with cognac because we’ve never cooked with that. We also had to substitute chili powder so the nutmeg flavor was stronger than it probably is otherwise. We thought the flavors were perfect. Also, we wanted it to be a hearty dish because it was our Christmas dinner so we served it over mashed potatoes. Crazy? Maybe, but it was a hit with our family of two “kids” (17 and 20) and two parents. Thanks for a great recipe!
So glad you enjoyed it Tonia – I think mashed potatoes is a great serving option! (Sherry probably added a bit of sweetness to the recipe but it was a good choice if you didn’t have cognac on hand.)
I followed your instructions to the tee. While eating with the family every one loved it. TY. A week later I made it again, because I need veggies in my diet, adding broccoli, mushrooms, and parsley. The flavor changed but it still had the smooth flavor. Just wondering if you have a better suggestion for adding veggies. Once again thanks 🙏🏽
Hi Kim – Some julienned carrots or zucchini, or green beans might be a nice option too. To avoid changing the flavor, you could steam the veggies separately, then just spoon the sauce over the top. Hope that helps – glad you enjoyed the recipe!
I made this tonight with both the large lobster tail and two large monkfish filets. The sauce was more than enough to cover all. I, personally, would add more cayenne to the mix, but I wasn’t sure how much, so I erred on conservative. It is a really rich flavor that fills you up quick, but it is decadently divine.
Thanks Joshua! So glad you enjoyed the recipe!
Made this for the FIRST TIME Christmas night. Just fabulous! Wondering if the Cognac should have been lit? I didn’t because it was not in the instructions and great all the same. I am now famous within my family. Nnext time I will prep the meal way in advance and this recipe lends itself to early prep since lobster is only half cooked before the sauté. How do I sign up for your email newsletter? This recipe is simply wonderful.
Hi Anne – Since there are only a few tablespoons in the sauce, no need to light the cognac to burn off the alcohol. (Although, if you are preparing the dish in front of a crowd and want to show off a bit to your family, you certainly could!) 🙂 We’re so glad you enjoyed the recipe!
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I made a big boo-booo, I made your recipe for guests at my home and that is all they ask for at all dinners with friends & or family since, thanks guys!!
we all love your recipe, great job
Had me worried for a second until I read the whole thing. Appreciate the compliment and hope you try other recipes.
Thanks again,
Jack
Oh Drool!! I’ll be right over.
Hi Mitch! LOL 🙂 Hope you enjoy the recipe!