LOBSTER THERMIDOR Full Classic French Recipe

TO JOIN AS A MEMBER, GO TO THIS LINK ON KZbin..
/ @cookinginrussia
VOLUME 4 IS AVAILABLE NOW!
IN THE UNITED STATES:
tinyurl.com/CIR4-USA
** CANADA**
Volume 4:
tinyurl.com/CIR-CANADA4
Advanced Mixology:
tinyurl.com/AdvancedMixology-...
** UK **
Volume 4:
tinyurl.com/CIR-UK4
Advanced Mixology:
tinyurl.com/AdvancedMixology-UK
** AUSTRALIA **
Volume 4:
tinyurl.com/CIR-Australia4
Advanced Mixology:
tinyurl.com/AdvancedMixology-...

[@43arri]

I must say that I'm also grateful for your patrons. They allow me to enjoy your work and tutelage.

[@bryanferry89]

Wow we are lucky to have Greg from a person who has purchase some of his brilliant cook books. Be assutred, they are the real deal. Pitty he doesnt get the massive credit he deserves with a lot more views which he certainly deserves. Thank you for your work Greg from the UK.

[@MozartforDinner]

So that's Lobster Thermidor! You're right. Before this, I thought it was just gratin dish like any other, but this is something special. It'll take a while to get everything together, but I've GOT to try this out!

[@CookinginRussia]

It's so good!

[@altruistin]

you are simply the best and authentic chef on KZbin, so many of your recipes are staples for me now. Like the shrimp and mushrooms sauce or your plum sauce. Could you maybe film a recipe for mushrooms julienne. The recipes I found so far all have a bland sauce, while the dish I had in St Petersburg years ago had so many layers of flavors. You are basically my only hope.

[@CookinginRussia]

Thank you for your kind words. With regard to Mushrooms Julienne in Russia, the primary difference is the quality of mushrooms. This is especially the case if you are in the United States. I've traveled back and forth from Europe to the U.S. several times, and each time it took quite a bit of getting used to how incredibly lacking in flavor most vegetables and mushrooms are there. Everything tastes like paper after you have adapted to a higher standard of produce. I can do some things to improve them. Have you looked at my section on mushroom chemistry in Volume 4 of my cookbook series?

[@italiano32484]

i think we take for granted being able to watch a true master of his craft present to us, alot of shit on KZbin being passed off as cooking, NOT EVEN CLOSE. Thanks Chef, as always sir.

[@GerinoMorn]

This channel (many years ago ;) ) was what turned me from "I can cook something, I guess" to "my guests will forever be sad when they eat inferior versions of my dishes elsewhere".

[@Beachcomber95]

Thank you for this!

[@BigLove101]

Chef, you are truly a gem to KZbin thank you. Technique is everything. Because of you my shrimp stock is bananas crazy delicious. Much respect Chef.

[@CookinginRussia]

Thank you!

[@kobo90]

Thank you chef. Absolutely astonishing technique.

[@CookinginRussia]

Thank you. Although really it is just a matter of practice. I could make this from scratch in just over 30 minutes if I didn't have to shoot video at each step separately.

[@NewDaysOldWays1]

Oh my goodness, can't wait to try this recipe! I have to laugh when I think back years ago when I offered to send you live Lobsters from Maine, but you said you couldn't receive them in St Petersburg! So happy you're back to posting! Cheers!

[@CookinginRussia]

Shipping live animals of any kind to Europe requires permits and inspections galore. No problem within the E.U., but outside is a sort of Iron Curtain for many food items.

[@chancekehm4836]

Thanks so much for sharing your the best always look forward to your vidoes,can't wait for the next one!

[@CookinginRussia]

Thank you, and thank you for being a member!

[@roccopietrofesa7914]

Wow I feel really lucky to have stumbled upon your videos. Concise, direct, informative and you are obviously an experienced professional. Thank you!

[@CookinginRussia]

Welcome! Unlike most people on KZbin, I answer questions rather quickly 365 days a year.

[@cKrish]

Living legend, appreciate every one of your videos chef!

[@CookinginRussia]

Thank you!

[@dotatough]

Can't wait to try this

[@rosemarychadi7734]

Thank you mystery benefactor! I will definitely try this! This is right up my alley... complicated and takes a long time... ending up with a delicious show stopper! I will invite some friends over and make that cocktail you told another commenter... Disco in Moscow! I love a good pairing suggestion ... or I should say an aperitif suggestion :) It'll take a while but I'll get to it! Thank you chef!

[@CookinginRussia]

Thank you. Be sure to pay attention to the notations that flash by. Without a printed recipe (it will be in Volume 5 some day!) you will need to make your own notes to follow this.

[@seattlerinis8249]

Dang. My father first had Lobster Thermidor at the SS Princess Louise floating restaurant at Terminal Island. Couldn't stop raving about it. I like to remember it as his favorite dish. A friend of mine had it at Musso and Franks in Hollywood. It had to be the most expensive thing on the menu. Something like that would have been lost on him. Lost on me too back then. Don't think I can do this one. At least not with my wife as my dinner companion. She couldn't handle the Lobster prep. Thanks for showing this one. Means a lot.

[@CookinginRussia]

Just send her out of the room when the lobster prep is being done. You can dispatch it in just a few minutes. Also, while Musso and Frank's was good, Alan Hales' Lobster Barrel was second only to my own, if I do say so myself. His was actually better than mine when I first dined there, which inspired me to improve my own recipe. I still have to have a Midori Daiquiri before Lobster Thermidor every time, for old times sake. It was Hale's signature cocktail. If you have my cocktail book, I improved on that recipe, too. It's "Disco in Moscow" now.

[@seattlerinis8249]

@@CookinginRussia As always, excellent suggestions harkening back to beloved dining experiences of years gone by. Love this channel Chef Greg.

[@maydaygarden]

@@CookinginRussia The same Alan Hale from Gilligan's Island no less? Amazing!

[@CookinginRussia]

@@maydaygarden - Yes. I gave details of this with a photo of the place in my "Cocktails of the South Pacific" book.

[@toddwarriner8249]

AS always a first class job

[@CookinginRussia]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@bott6]

Those eggs....amazing chef!

[@CookinginRussia]

Thank you. Did you mean to respond to the Eggs Benedict video, or do you mean the lobster eggs here?

[@bott6]

The lobster eggs! But will I only have those eggs if I'm lucky like you said? Or can a fish monger give me a female If requested? Sorry so many questions now haha.

[@CookinginRussia]

@@bott6 - The demand for female lobsters is higher, but the average consumer doesn't know the difference. You can pick out a female lobster yourself if you have access to the lobster tank to select from. Unfortunately KZbin does not permit photos to be included in comments. Here's a video on it... kzbin.info/www/bejne/bnu8gYt3fr9rhbM

[@JoJo-fe3hu]

Your wonderful, I love your voice!

[@CookinginRussia]

Thank you. That's very kind of you.

[@JohnS-er7jh]

thank you for posting this video with the full classic French Recipe. I first watched another cooking video and he mentioned at the end that he left out a bunch of ingredients (too make it less rich tasting, all the good stuff I like), I don't like when people do this unless it is a video channel that focuses on a specific type of diet.

[@razumikhin1437]

Amazing!

[@CookinginRussia]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@scottreed7529]

Very good recipe.

[@maydaygarden]

I will never make this and I couldn't begin to afford it in a restaurant that did. However, it was deeply satisfying to watch this excellent chef go all surgically medevial on the lobster for a proper preparation. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

[@lwilton]

Watching you make this, the one thought that kept coming to my mind was "this is a pretty complex recipe. I wonder how it came about, or who came up with it, or how many generations of cooks it took to develop it." This doesn't strike me as something some French-chef-to-a-king just came up with out of the blue one afternoon.

[@CookinginRussia]

The original version was actually prepared. by Napoleon Bonaparte's chef for him. It's really just a sequence of small steps that are all basic in classic French cuisine, it's just that you don't see this sort of thing much any more.

[@paulmikaelpetersson432]

Thanks:)

[@ivonav3751]

Thanks for this video! I went down a bit of a lobster thermidor rabbit hole the other day on You Tube, and thought I would have to try making it someday. I've only had it a couple of times at a restaurant in Scotland when we were stationed there, and it was incredible. But that was about 30 years ago. At any rate, all the videos I found the other day seemed as though they were somewhat lacking, and I was just going to take hints from some of the ones that seemed best and sort of make it up as I went along, but this recipe seems as though it resolves all the issues I had with the others. Hope it all comes together to be as good as yours looks!

[@CookinginRussia]

You can trust my recipe. Aside from being my personal favorite dish, I've been perfecting it for decades.

[@TrainerInTraining]

Wow - I bet you enjoyed that! Did you devour it or savor each bite?

[@McDiezel079]

It's good to see it done correctly. When I first tried my first time I couldn't find a definitive answer on KZbin and ended up with lobster tossed in sauce americaine topped with an overly thick Mornay. Tasty but obviously not nearly the dish we have here

[@CookinginRussia]

This is the reason I started making cooking videos on KZbin long ago. There is so much bad information and half-assed recipes that cut corners, I felt like someone had to do things right. These days there are some better videos out there, but it still an ocean of bad information. Even some of the "best" videos have glaring errors almost every time.

[@thigson189]

@@CookinginRussia Hear hear! Raises beer to the man - Chef Easter. Thank you, chef.

[@timhopper389]

This is a long way from the first video of yours that I watched, which was a recipe for chicken cacciatore!! Ive used it many times and everyone raves about it. Simple, delicious and satisfying to the palate. I appreciate your no nonsense, straight forward explanation of the recipes and Im thinking I might try this one.

[@CookinginRussia]

Thank you. I hope you do try it!

[@T1ddlywinks]

Thank you for the tip on not using Tomalley due to pollution. I see too many trendy youtubers sucking it up like a vampire.

[@CookinginRussia]

You're welcome. Most of the people making videos on KZbin are not qualified, unfortunately.

[@andrea0512]

Wow! So excited to try this. This receipe appears to have only filled one half of the lobster. Is that correct? Do you have recommendations on what pairs well with this dish?

[@SpinalChamp]

I made a double batch of this recipe since I knew I probably wasn't going to make this again in the near future. Only one of the lobsters was a female, so the amount of roe in the sauce wasn't as concentrated as yours. Despite that, I was pleasantly surprised at how much pure lobster flavor came through the heavy sauce. There was a hint of green apple in the final product which was interesting. The white wine I used didn't have green apple hints, so I'm not sure where that came from, but it was a positive for me. I've made your faux lobster Thermidor before and this was a whole different world.

[@CookinginRussia]

Thanks for the feedback! Did you manage to keep the lobster tender and not chewy? That's the most common problem for people.

[@SpinalChamp]

@@CookinginRussia It came out nice and tender. No real trouble apart from cleaning up the kitchen afterwards.

[@CookinginRussia]

@@SpinalChamp - Great, then my instructions have worked! You did use the board inside of the roasting pan to keep juices from running all over your counter and floor, right? That's usually the giant source of a mess in preparing live lobster (and also a waste of valuable flavor!)

[@SpinalChamp]

@@CookinginRussia Yes, the amount of juices that ended up in the roasting pan was crazy. The biggest claw must have let out 30ml or so just by itself. This claw was as big as the lobster tails you see in the fish counter at grocery stores in the US.

[@CookinginRussia]

@@SpinalChamp - Good. As for grocery store lobster in the U.S., if you are there (or travel there), then go to Chinese supermarkets. Their prices on lobsters are extremely low and you get lobsters that are much, much larger.

[@PetrichorAllegory]

I mean damn. That's the truth right there.

[@CookinginRussia]

Honestly I'm not sure what you meant by that, but thanks anyway!

[@SpinalChamp]

It's here!

[@CookinginRussia]

It's a long video with a lot of little IMPORTANT notes in text that will flash by if you aren't paying attention. Buckle in!

[@SpinalChamp]

@@CookinginRussia I'll be sure to take notes before I start. Ever since I read the note in your intro to the faux lobster thermidor in the Vegetables book I wanted to see the real thing. I have not only you to thank but also the fan who sponsored this video!

[@BravingTheOutDoors]

Side question : You mind explaining to me what uses and differences are there for thin vs thick copper pans? I'm in Paris so I went to dehillerin and got two of their mauviel dishes. Mauviel (in case someone doesn't know) manufactures extra thick pans for them which you can only buy from their store. Since I don't speak French I couldn't really understand their expansions but I always wanted very thick copper pans so I got a sauce pan and a splayed sauté frying pan. They are so heavy! Cheers.

[@CookinginRussia]

The quick answer: Thin is better for browning meats and vegetables, and thick is better for sauces and egg dishes that can easily scorch.

[@BravingTheOutDoors]

@@CookinginRussia which is what I thought but it's not what they explained or at least not what they attempted to explain. Tried reading more on their website and the expansion there is even more confusing. Anyway... Thanks. What dishes would you recommend people to buy extra thick?

[@CookinginRussia]

@@BravingTheOutDoors - First, you should keep in mind that professional kitchens use moderately thin pans and pots for everything and cook on stoves that are much hotter than any home kitchen stove. Thick pots and pans take a long time to get hot, and a restaurant kitchen doesn't have time for that. So what you are really asking is, "What can a very thick pan prevent from happening?" Burning and uneven cooking. A pan that warms slower means there is more time to rescue something from burning. The flipside of that is that when it gets hot, you can't cool it down rapidly because the metal will retain the heat. So it is best for things cooked slowly on a moderate heat, such as stews and sauces.

[@BravingTheOutDoors]

@@CookinginRussia I do remember you saying you'll make extremely thick copper frying pans for the restaurant. Unfortunately that didn't happen. I'd love to have one but I haven't seen anyone doing anything like that. You can still find 3.5mm antique ones on ebay but I'd have to find someone to line it with tin and I have no idea where to find such a service. Julia Child (for whatever it's worth) said that in order to really get the benefits copper has to offer it must be over 3mm. If I'm not mistaken the main reason you just don't find such thickness today is mostly due to the sheets that are being manufactured and those being 2.5mm. The overall thickness of the Mauviel/Dehillerin is 2.7mm.

[@CookinginRussia]

@@BravingTheOutDoors - It is very difficult to work with metal that thick, as well as expensive. I have an 8mm thick copper pot. It weighs a LOT. It takes a long time to get hot and even longer to cool off. It was custom made for Laava as an experiment. In the end it was not really useful, even though it seemed like a good idea at the time.

[@SpinalChamp]

I placed an order for the lobster at the local fish market and am now just waiting for them to get it in. I have everything else apart from Champagne, but do have white wine. Would you say it's noticeably better with Champagne or is the white wine about as good?

[@CookinginRussia]

It won't matter to you if you haven't had it before. I normally use champagne, but as you can see in the video here, I used Chardonnay and it came out fine.

[@SpinalChamp]

@@CookinginRussia Thanks for the quick reply.

[@DebyMchannel10]

lobster my likes

[@0142Jason]

I have to ask, would this recipe work with other species of lobster? In Australia the lobsters we have are Spiny Lobster and Slipper Lobster. Do you know how Lobster Thermidor would work with those varieties?

[@CookinginRussia]

Sort of. The taste will not be the same. Spiny Lobster is much better suited to barbecue or other preparations. It's possible to use it (of course), but it just won't be the same.

[@BravingTheOutDoors]

Only just started watching but had to stop immediately to write this... You're killing a live lobster on video. There's a very good chance someone at some point will complain and the video will be taken down. So, please, if you could make sure you have it saved elsewhere so you will be able to send a private link to it (for paid members) that will be highly advisable. If I were home with my computer I'd just download it myself for safe keeping. Although I'm not the member who paid for this video I've been waiting for five years for you to make this video! I don't want to lose it. I'll continue watching now. Just had to warn you. We're living in "sensitive land" these days.

[@CookinginRussia]

I have the video in both edited and raw form, in case some nut complains. No worries.

[@KinkyLettuce]

question why is the cheese added so early on when making the sauce? The sauce goes through quite a bit of boiling after the cheese is added, doesnt that increase the chance of the cheese splitting? all my instincts are telling me to add the cheese at very last moment But obviously your way worked out for you, so im not arguing with the result

[@CookinginRussia]

As you can see, it does not split. The cheese is part of the classic sauce called a Mornay (although there is a lot more going on here than just cheese and Bechamel). It is not "boiled". That's your problem right there if it is splitting on you.

[@CookinginRussia]

Also, just to clarify, the three main reasons for splitting in a case like this are: 1. Improper ratio of ingredients. 2. Overheating (often due to impatience). 3. Inferior quality cheese that's mostly oil. This is first rate Swiss Gruyere, and you can see that by how it almost instantly dissolves into the sauce effortlessly. You get what you pay for. :)

[@aubwill1965]

no mustard?

[@CookinginRussia]

Nope. Decades ago I used to include mustard, but it overpowers the much more delicate flavors. This is a beautiful symphony of flavors from the wines, cognac and intense lobster that has been concentrated from "nose to tail" in the sauce. You don't want to add mustard to this. If you are making the much faster bechamel, mustard and lemon juice version then that's a different story. Then you need to amp up the flavor with something, but that's another recipe altogether.

[@premsewak6953]

You didn't show when you put egg yolk

[@susanharris8626]

I still eat the tomalley. I always order a female but don’t always get it.

[@CookinginRussia]

How many guys complain about that? :)

[@mannye]

Julia Child says to call her.

[@CookinginRussia]

She died nearly 20 years ago. What are you talking about?

[@mannye]

@@CookinginRussia Her ghost was so upset by you calling the recipe in her book wrong, she appeared to me, which by the way, ruined the souffle I was making, and said, in a very angry way, "Where are the aromatics in the lobster cooking liquid?" At first I had no idea what she was talking about, and I was intimidated because, she was at least 6"4" tall ( 193cm) with heels on. But then I realized that Lobster Thermidor is French in origin, first prepared in 1894 at Maire’s Restaurant in Paris. The dish was named honor of the premiere of Victorien Sardou’s play, Thermidor, which was playing at the theatre Comédie Française, near which the restaurant was located and I figured that this preparation, while it seems very close to the authentic version, has the lobsters being butchered before being cooked. When I mentioned this the ghost of Julia wailed very loudly with what I can only say was pleasure and said, "Yes! " I don't understand it but I will be making a Thermidor tomorrow and I will be following her recipe. Which, if you are right is completely incorrect. But she's really tall.

[@CookinginRussia]

@@mannye - First off, Julia Child stole everything from the class materials she was given at Cordon Bleu back at a time when copyright laws were nearly impossible to enforce between Europe and the U.S. Second, she never worked in any restaurant as even a cook, let alone as a chef -- not even for a single day. Her recipes were revolutionary and advanced for Americans in the 1950's when they were serving things like Jello with bologna in them as "elegant" dinners. Things have came a long way in the last 70 years. The method I show in this video is based on my decades of experience as an actual chef in fine dining restaurants around the world.

[@mannye]

@@CookinginRussia That's interesting! Thanks for the detailed reply. So you're saying that the recipe in her book is a later evolution of the classic French recipe you present in this video? Where is this recipe documented? I would be very interested in getting a copy. Also I am very curious as to why you split the lobsters before cooking rather than cook then split. Is it better to do it your way or just your preference?

[@CookinginRussia]

@@mannye - Please understand that I do not have the time to explain such details in every comment that appears in the hundreds of videos I have posted here. I have a series of cookbooks available on Amazon and other sources that go into much more detail than I can provide here for free. Cheers!

[@connor9024]

I used to give all lobsters last rites before killing them at a restaurant I worked at People at work will ask me why? I’d say: Now I know for a fact I’m not going to heaven, but I don’t want to see a bunch of angry lobsters waiting for me in hell Lol