National Lobster Thermidor Day

"Thermidor" was a month on the French Republican calendar. With a name meaning "hot," coming from the word "thermal," Thermidor started towards the end of July. It was during the month of Thermidor that Maximilien Robespierre was overthrown and guillotined.

Lobster Thermidor, a French dish associated with decadence and opulence, is celebrated and enjoyed today on National Lobster Thermidor Day. The day takes place on the anniversary of the date in 1891 that Thermidor, a play about the French Revolution by Victorien Sardou, debuted in Paris. According to popular belief, Chef Léopold Étienne Mourier created a new lobster dish to celebrate the play's inaugural performance, naming it after the play and presenting it to the actors at his restaurant, Chez Marie. (A few other stories claim others made the dish, but the story with Chef Mourier is the most widely circulated one.) The play only lasted three nights because it was controversial, since it was critical of Robespierre, and was then banned for five years, but lobster Thermidor stuck.

Noted French chef Auguste Escoffier put lobster Thermidor in his 1903 cookbook Le Guide Culinaire. The dish made it to America in the early twentieth century and appeared on menus on the East Coast, where lobster was easy to source. It especially became common in New York City: It was on the menus of the Hotel Knickerbocker in 1907, Waldorf Astoria in 1915, and Delmonico's in 1917. (Delmonico's created a similar dish in 1876: Lobster Newberg.)

Along with lobster, the ingredients in lobster Thermidor often include heavy cream, butter, eggs, Gruyere cheese, and Cognac or another brandy. The lobster is taken out of its shell and cooked in a rich, creamy sauce. It is put back into the shell and then sprinkled with cheese, usually Gruyere, and then broiled. Lobster Thermidor tends to be served at high-end restaurants or eaten on special occasions, but it is also eaten today because it's National Lobster Thermidor Day!

How to Observe National Lobster Thermidor Day

Have lobster Thermidor at a restaurant, perhaps at a French restaurant near you. You also could make it to enjoy at home. Share how you are celebrating along with pictures of your lobster Thermidor and that hashtag #NationalLobsterThermidorDay.

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