Lobster Thermidor
Difficulty 3/5 Ingredients 9 Steps 10
Lobster thermidor is a dish created by stuffing an empty lobster tail with sautéed lobster meat that is cooked with butter, a light wine (often sherry), and cream. The resulting sauce is stuffed into a lobster shell then topped with either a cheese, mushrooms or combination of vegetables before being placed under an open flame or broiled.
Ingredients
- ½ lb (225 g) cooked lobster meat, preferably from the tail; see notes
- 1 cleaned lobster tail shell
- 3 tablespoons butter or margarine
- 1 cup (240 ml) heavy cream
- 2 egg yolks
- ½ cup (120 ml) sherry or brandy
- ½ cup (120 g) grated gruyere or mozzarella cheese
- Salt
- Freshly-ground black pepper
Steps
Filling
- Mix egg yolks and cream in serving bowl. Set aside.
- Melt butter over low heat in saucepan large enough for all ingredients.
- Add cooked lobster meat and wine. Sauté over medium-high heat 2–3 min until meat is warmed through and wine mostly absorbed.
- Add cream and egg mixture slowly, stirring constantly.
- Remove from heat when sauce thickens.
- Set oven to broil or prepare open flame.
- Stuff empty lobster tail with filling.
- Top with grated cheese, salt and pepper.
- Broil filled shell under open flame 3–8 min until cheese melts and turns golden brown.
- Remove from oven. Serve on warmed plate with garnish and accompaniments.
Notes from the original
- Cooking and shelling a fresh lobster can be a time consuming process, so frozen or pre-shelled tail meat is often used as a substitute. If you would like to prepare your own lobster meat, refer to the recipe for boiled lobster.
- While the base preparation of Lobster Thermidor often remains the same, the type of wine or cheese used, or the way that the lobster is cooked differs.
- Some preparations include utilizing the broth generated from cooking the lobster with carrots, celery, tarragon, and wine as an additional ingredient to thicken the sauce of cream and sherry.
Source. Adapted from “Cookbook:Lobster Thermidor” by Wikibooks contributors, revision of 2026-04-12, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Changes. Steps rewritten into short commands. Introduction shortened. Wiki formatting removed. This adapted recipe is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.