Candlelit or Sofa? Valentine’s Lobster to guarantee a delicious dinner together with your loved one!
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If you’re cooking for someone you really like — or just really like to treat yourself — this video is for you.
In this episode, I’m making two very different lobster dishes, depending on the mood you’re going for:
Lobster Thermidor and Lobster Mac & Cheese.
Lobster Thermidor is rich, classic, and a little bit theatrical. Sweet lobster meat folded into a creamy, brandy-spiked sauce, tucked back into the shell and grilled until golden and bubbling. It’s a proper special-occasion dish, but broken down so it’s calm, doable, and not intimidating.
Lobster Mac & Cheese is comfort food with main character energy. Creamy, deeply savoury, built on a lobster bisque base with Gruyère, Cheddar and a golden Parmesan top. This is the relaxed, sofa-and-wine version of date-night lobster.
In this video, I’ll show you:
– How to handle lobster without fear
– Sauce techniques you can reuse again and again
– When to go full theatre vs when to keep things cosy
You don’t need Valentine’s Day as an excuse to cook this, but if you are marking it, this is a very strong move.
Let me know in the comments which one you’d cook first — and who you’d cook it for 🦞💛
🦞 Lobster Thermidor – Ingredients
2 cooked lobsters (500–800 g each)
45 g unsalted butter
1 medium shallot, finely diced
100g white mushrooms, diced
1 large garlic clove, finely minced
25g plain flour
240ml fish or shellfish stock
120ml double cream
1 tbsp Cognac or brandy
1 tsp Sea salt, or to taste
50g finely grated Parmesan, plus extra for topping
2 large egg yolks
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
1 tbsp finely chopped tarragon
Pinch of cayenne pepper
50g Gruyère, grated
Fresh parsley, to finish
Lemon wedges, to serve
🧀 Lobster Mac & Cheese – Ingredients
350g dried macaroni or short pasta
40g unsalted butter
40g plain flour
500ml lobster bisque
200ml double cream
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 small garlic clove, finely grated
120 g mature Cheddar, grated
100 g Gruyère, grated
30 g Parmesan, finely grated, plus extra for finishing
1 tbsp finely chopped tarragon
1 tbsp finely chopped parsley
Salt, to taste
Freshly ground black pepper
30 Comments
LEGO Bruce Wayne approves.
Lobster Thermidor is my all time favourite seafood when in Saint Palais-sur-Mer, France, or anywhere where fresh caught lobster is available. Another nice example from Chef on how to prepare, cook and eat it.
I've been seeing many chefs making the same simple error. Whether it's the wine, brandy, etc it's always half the amount needed. Half for the recipe and half for the chef. 😉
Looks amazing Auntie Liz. Thank you for sharing with us.
Actually I came here to watch Aunty Liz, not the food. She is just too beautiful. 😍
awesome Auntie Liz..
I find this so disgusting….there are people who find pork disgusting, there are people who find raw pork (like we eat) disgusting, some find sugar on pasta disgusting, some find eating brain or liver disgusting…as for me seeing all the insides mushy like this in a seafood is disgusting @@
too much faffing about… just give him beans on toast 🙂
Thanks for validating how my lobster thermador looked 10+ years ago. And thanks for the Valentine's idea – we will very likely be making lobster mac!
6:10 Cue naughty joke… 😂
Wollongong Tennis Club had this as their specialty dish great memories going their for lunch after my daughter’s swimming lessons next door
If I had the naughtiest chef since Nigella in my pocket I wouldn’t forget Valentines Day
Sounds like peanut allergy guy's getting chicken satay with peanut sauce in a couple of weeks.😉 When's Valentine's Day…🤦🏻♂️
I forgot to ask earlier, did the tomalley go into the sauce for the thermidor, or did it go into the mac? Although one of your notes did say not to give the tomalley to kids. Here's a tomalley story that will make you smile. Back at Uni, we would occasionally have "ticket dinners" where the dorm residents would get a ticket and be able to have a special dish. One time it was lobsters. We had a Malaysian living with us in our dorm, and on that day, he ate ALL the tomalley we gave him, not knowing how good it was. Although, being a Uni dorm, it was a bit overcooked so it had firmed up a bit.
I have to laugh that dropping a lobster into boiling water is outlawed but freezing it nearly to death for 15 minutes and then splitting its head in half with a Chef's knife is just fine…
That looked amazing. I want to come over for dinner please. Thanks for the video Auntie Liz
Peanut allergy guy is a very blessed man. This is amazing auntie liz.
Romans 12 verse 9
Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.
imagine you cook the most expensive, the most revered crustacean in the world, one of the most desired thing of the ocean and you cook it with… mac and cheese… I mean come on Elizabeth the lobster deserved a better accompaniement like a special rice, or great vegetables but just macaronis ? I'm very disappointed
A great inspiration, Liz! My mom is 91 of age. And mentally absolutly brilliant. So: every next meal I can cook for her is very welcome. My dad started his career as a fisherman in Finkenwerder, Hamburg, Germany.
Like I bought some king crab for us, some 5 yrs ago. She never had king crab before. Extremely expensive, here. My idea: at least once in a lifetime.
She had lobster before. But mostly homebound, by now. Sounds like a plan for me!
Aunty Liz and Peanut Allergy Guy give me hope that there is still love in the world, you two are made for each other, lol. Always makes me chuckle that not so long ago lobster was fed to prisoners as it was considered "garbage" food, and nowadays we have recipes like these and it's considered "high end" dining. I haven't made lobster in ages, but after this I might have to have a go.
The addition of Mac & Cheese sold it for me, and I'm a Brit!!! But seriously, that looks superb.
I will be Liz's valentine all day every day ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤. Especially in the auntie challenge dress (IYKYK)
I love how chefs are always "Parmesan. About a half cup….. eh.." tips the whole bowl in
Beautiful dish!
Cooking bits aside, It's just refreshing as a lefty, watching a 'how to' presented by a left handed person. Also, I have a good pair of needle nose pruning shears, and they make short work of lobsters a side from maybe the main split in half. And they are thin so they won't destroy all the meat. Same with snow crab legs, and more. Also loved this, I haven't made Thermidore in so long I forgot most of this. Thanks.
YUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
My Dad got Lobster Thermidor in Canada in a posh French restaurant back in the 70's, never stopped talking about how good it was. A true classic.
Looks incredible. Love how you were very real with this one.
love it
Where's the claw meat? I saw you shiv it for the sauce, don't tell me you threw it out with the shells? Waste not want not. Capital crime in Atlantic Canada