How to Eat Lobster Thermidor

Lobster Thermidor is prepared by extracting the meat from the lobster, mixing it with a sauce and then returning it to the shell.

Lobster Thermidor is a French dish created in 1894 by Chez Marie, a restaurant in Paris. The dish consists of lobster meat in a creamy sauce made with egg yolks, mustard and either cognac or brandy. The mixture is then stuffed back into the lobster shell to eat as though from a bowl, making it much easier to eat because the diner no longer has to break the shell and extract the meat himself.

Instructions

1. Using a fork, eat the meat out of the shell as though you were eating out of a bowl. The lobster meat and sauce is cooked and served inside the shell in traditional Lobster Thermidor.

2. Be sure to get an even mixture of meat and sauce. Chefs take great pride in their preparation of the dish. The ingredients and proportions are carefully chosen to best complement the lobster meat.

3. Use a spoon to extract the last of the meat or sauce. The remaining pieces of meat and the remaining sauce may be difficult to extract using your fork. Often Lobster Thermidor is served in relatively small portions, and using your spoon to retrieve the last bits from the shell is perfectly acceptable.

References

• Debrett's: How to Eat Fish and Seafood
• Linda's Cullinary Dictionary Index: L