What is Lobster Thermidor?
If you order this dish you will usually get a plate with the lobster shell filled with
creamy chunks or slices of lobster, mushrooms in a creamy veloute or Mornay sauce, spiked with dijon mustard, flavored with wine or brandy, and a nice bread crumb and cheese topping. |
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So What is "Thermidor" ?
Thermidor is a month in the French Republican Calendar.
So it is not on a democratic calendar or what's the deal?
The French Revolution back in the late 1700's was so significant that it had it's own seasons of what happened in this event.
The coup happened in late July, so this time period is called Thermidor. |
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| The word comes from the Greek word "Thermal" meaning HOT of course, and it's July. It was in this season that the coup happened and the dictator Robespierre was ousted and decapitated by gulliotine. |
They named a lobster dish after a month in France?
That is not the full story...
...and it's an interesting one.
On Jan 24 1891, was the opening of the play in Paris, "Thermidor" by Victorien Sardou. It takes place in the time of the French Revolution when the leader, Robspierre, was executing revolutionaries mostly by the Guilotene, to the tune of 17,000.
His "Committe of Public Safetey" had files on everyone. The main character Labussière risked his life to infiltrate the committe and steal the files of friends that were headed for the guillotine.
This is a drama that would be during the same time as "Les Miserables". So this sets the stage for the entrance of this soon to be star of the restaurant scene. |
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Picture of a scene from the play "Thermidor" |
So what does this lobster dish have to do with a play in France in 1891?
Chef Leopold Mourier in honor of the opening of this play in the restaurant and for the actors and crew in the play.
So who invented the recipe for Lobster Thermidor?
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Léopold Étienne Mourier,
(1862–1923) was a French chef, restaurateur, He owned several restaurants, and was philanthropist, member Legion d'Honor
Today he is best known for creating a "dramatic" dish for the opening of a dramatic controversial play "Thermidor" on a theme of the French Revolution in Paris that opened on Jan 24, 1891.
The play ran 3 nights and was banned for 5 years and when it reopened the dish was well established in the culinary world, even Escoffier made it and put it in his cookbook. |
| As usual with food history there are conflicting stories, of where it was created by Escoffier, but it is reported that he wasn't in Paris at the time. |
Imagine you created Lobster Thermidor?
To help you understand this story let's put you in it and add an example more familiar.
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So imagine you were a chef and Les Miserables was about to open for the first time. This would be highly controversial as many folks were sympathetic to the Brutal Robespierre.
So you thought the play was important and brave to produce. So you wanted to make a very special dish to commemorate the play and it's actors.
So since you are
a master French chef, your sauces would probably be the major paint in your master piece. |
| So you make a nice Veloute or Mornay (with parmesan or Gruyere cheese addd, a little tangy mustard, finish it with some cream and blend in sauted mushrooms, and for a nice presentation you think I'll put this back in the shell and put a nice grated cheese, and bread crumb topping. |
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You feel you have honored this play and French history, and then the play gets banned after 3 nights, the government shuts it down.
This is kind of the story of what happened, and you would at least be happy to know that your dish has survived over a 100 years and though it's not mainstream it's still a great way to do your lobster.
So how did Lobster Thermidor get started?
When is National Lobster Thermidor Day?
National LobsterThermidor Day is on the same day as the play "Thermidor" opened up, Jan 24,
Les Miserables as a side dish?
The perfect movie to watch with this dish would be Les Miserables, as the play is set in the same time period as the summer of the French Revolution.
Historical Newspaper Clippings for Lobster Thermidor
 08 Jun 1929, Sat The Buffalo Times (Buffalo, New York) Newspapers.com
 22 Jan 1929, Tue Los Angeles Evening Express (Los Angeles, California) Newspapers.com
 30 Oct 1915, Sat The Winnipeg Tribune (Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada) Newspapers.com
When making Lobster Thermidor,
some fun Factoids |
In Depth Research
Lobster Thermidor is a classic French dish. There are two schools of thought of which chef actually created it. Many food historians claim it was created in January 1891 at Marie’s, a famous restaurant in the Boulevard Saint-Denis in Paris, on the evening of the premiere of Thermidor, a play by Victorian Sardou.
From the Food History Timeline
Lobster Thermidor "Thermidor. The name of a lobster dish created in January 1894 at Marie's, a famous restaurant in the Boulevard Saint-Denis in Paris, on the evening of the premiere of Thermidor, a play by Victorien Sardou (according to the Dictionnaire de l"Academie des Gastronomes). Other authors attribute it to Leopold Mourier of the Cafe de Paris, where the chef Tony Girod, his assistant and successor, created thte recipe used today...The name 'thermidor' is also given to a dish consisting of sole poached in white wine and fish fumet, with shallots and parsley, and covered with a sauce made from the reduced cooking liquid thickened with butter and seasoned with mustard." ---Larousse Gastronomique, completely revised and updated edition [Clarkson Potter:New York] 2001 (p. 1208)
"Thermidor. A designation given to a method of preparing and cooking lobster in which the creature (up to this point alive) is cut in half and grilled, has its flesh sliced up and returned to the half shell in bechamel sauce with various added flavourings, and is then browned under the grill again and served. It commemorates the play Thermidor by Victorien Sardou, for the first-night celebration of which it was created in Paris in 1894." ---An A to Z of Food and Drink, John Ayto [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 2002 (p. 342)
Escoffier's recipe, circa 1903: "2124 Homard Thermidor Split the lobster in half lengthways, season and gently grill, then remove the flesh from the shell and cut into fairly thick slices on the slant. Place some Sauce Creme finished with a little English mustard in the bottom of the two half shells, replace the slices of lobster neatly on top and coat with the sauce. Glaze lightly in a hot oven or under the salamander." ---The Complete Guide to the Art of Modern Cookery, Escoffier, 1903 edition, translated by H.L Cracknell and R.J. Kaufmann, [Wiley:New York] 1979 (p. 249)
Links to help with this Food History
The Gothamist
The Strange History behind the Cheesiest Dish, Lobster Thermidor
From The Old Foodie
A Revolutionary Dish
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