The Origins of Chinese Lobster Sauce

If you order Lobster Sauce at a Chinese restaurant, most people realize that it doesn’t contain any lobster, and that the ground meat in the sauce is actually pork. On most menus, you'll see Shrimp with Lobster Sauce, though many Chinese restaurants also sell the lobster sauce on its own. In addition, there are two different kinds of lobster sauce, dependent in large part on your part of the country. In New England, lobster sauce tends to be a brown sauce while it is more of a white sauce in the rest of the country.

What is the origin of lobster sauce? Why is it called lobster sauce when it contains no lobster? And why are there two different versions?

Most online sources are of little help in answering these questions, presenting claims without any supporting evidence. Many of these sources believe the originated during the 1950s. These sources also claim that lobster sauce was first used in a different dish, Lobster Cantonese Style, but because of the expense of lobster, a variant dish was created, using shrimp instead of lobster but with the same sauce. Those same sources also provide no real explanation for the regional differences of the sauce. 

I agree that the origins of Chinese lobster sauce are murky, but my own research was enlightening in a number of regards. The origins of this dish extend back at least to 1904, and I have strong doubts that high-priced lobster led to the replacement with shrimp. In addition, I have some possible insight to the explanation of the regional differences in the sauce. 

There’s evidence that lobster was on the menu at Chinese restaurants in the U.S. at least near the end of the 19th century. For example, the Boston Herald, August 18, 1895, reported on a dinner at a new Chinese spot, the Oriental Restaurant, in Boston's Chinatown. One of the courses was “fried lobster,” although there wasn't a mention of any sauce associated with the dish. More lobster dishes were available at this restaurant as well.

The Charlotte News (NC), August 4, 1900, published a menu for the Oriental Restaurant, which offered Plain Lobster (50 cents), Fried Lobster (75 cents), and Lobster Omelet (75 cents). Although Chop Sooy (25 cents) was quite cheap, their Chow Mein (75 cents) was priced similarly to the lobster dishes. Even the Fried Boneless Chicken (75 cents) was a similar price. So, considering the prices, lobster didn’t seem a luxury dish at this point. After this date, numerous Chinese restaurants would offer a wide variety of lobster dishes, from Chop Suey to Chow Mein.

The Courier-Journal (KY), February 8, 1904, noted that at a Chinese New Year’s celebration, one of the dishes served was Chow Loong Har, which was stated to be “fried lobster with vegetables.” However, Chow Loong Har is more commonly known as Lobster Cantonese Style, and this may be the first appearance of this dish in U.S. newspapers. Obviously, this dish could have existed prior to 1904, but I haven't found any documentation to support that possibility. Unfortunately, no description of the sauce was provided in this article.

As for other lobster dishes, Lobster Chop Suey (Chow Sarm Hal) made its appearance in an ad in the Oshkosh Northwestern (WI), September 12, 1907, and was also mentioned in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram (TX), November 27, 1907. There would be references to Lobster Chow Mein in the Boston Post, April 7, 1916, and Lobster Chop Suey in the Boston Post, November 27, 1918. Lobster was a popular ingredient at this time. 

Eleven years after its first mention, “Fried Lobster-Canton Style” made another appearance in the newspapers, in a restaurant ad in the Fall River Daily Evening News (MA), August 20, 1916. Unfortunately, once again, there was no description of the sauce.

More Lobster dishes. The Nebraska Signal (NE), November 10, 1921, presented a restaurant menu with various lobster dishes including Lobster Chop Sui (50 cents), which was the same price as Chicken Chop Sui. Lobster Chow Min (75 cents) was also the same price as Chicken Chow Min. Other items included Lobster Egg Fu Yung (35 cents), Fried Lobster with Vegetable (50 cents), Fried Lobster with Waterbeans (35 cents) and Fried Lobster with Green Pepper & Tomatoes (50 cents). As we can see, lobster prices were comparable to chicken dishes, so it still wasn’t a luxury item. Ten years later, the Evening Vanguard (CA), August 20, 1931, printed a recipe for Lobster Chop Suey.

The Chinese love of lobsters! The Boston Herald, April 4, 1931, reported that "That Chinese are also big buyers and connoisseurs of lobsters. For some reason best known to themselves, the Chinese restaurant proprietors, who customarily do their own shopping, almost always pick out female lobsters and refuse to buy males."

During the 1930s, Lobster Cantonese Style began to make more frequent appearances in various newspapers. The Greenwood Commonwealth (MS), June 29, 1934, mentioned “Chinese lobster (Canton style)” while the Brooklyn Daily Eagle (NY), August 7, 1935, had a restaurant ad mentioning “fried lobster, Cantonese style.” The Hartford Courant (CT), October 9, 1936, also published a restaurant ad noting “Chinese Fried Lobster.” The Times Dispatch (VA). December 3, 1938, mentioned a New York City restaurant serving “Chow Loong Ha (Lobster Cantonese Style)” while the Hartford Courant (CT), December 18, 1938, also noted a new restaurant in New York City that served “fried lobster, Cantonese style.”

However, what was Lobster Cantonese Style? None of these prior newspaper references actually explained the nature of this dish. Some sources claim that it was based on a dish from China, where the sauce was made with ginger and scallions. However, when we finally get a description of the lobster Cantonese Style sauce, it differed significantly from the recipes for Lobster with Ginger & Scallions Sauce. For example, the former usually didn't include the use of soy sauce or ginger though the latter sauce did. In addition, the former included the use of minced pork but the latter sauce did not. 

The Times Union (NY), April 17, 1938, presented the first newspaper recipe for Lobster Cantonese. The ingredients for this dish included 1 large boiled lobster, chopped pork, eggs, black beans, scallions, salt, sugar, gourmet powder, corn starch, meat stock or water, and garlic. If this recipe was reflective of the dish at most Chinese restaurants, it shows that differences from Lobster with Ginger & Scallions. It would thus be a significant variation of the original lobster dish.

A cookbook from 1938 seems to confirm that this recipe was the norm. Cook at Home In Chinese by Henry Low presented a recipe for Lobster Cantonese Style (Chow Loong Ha). Henry was the chef at the famed Port Arthur Restaurant, in New York’s Chinatown, which was opened in 1897 by Chu Gam Fai. Henry worked there for at least ten years, starting in 1928. It stands to reason that the recipe he provided in his cookbook would reflect that served at the Port Arthur Restaurant. The ingredients for his recipe included 1 large lobster, chopped raw lean pork, eggs, black beans, scallions, garlic, salt, pepper, gourmet powder, cornstarch, and stock or water. Very similar to the previous newspaper recipe. And once again, soy sauce and ginger were not used, and there was the addition of chopped pork, eggs and black beans. 

1938 was also the year when Shrimp with Lobster Sauce was first mentioned. The Montclair Times (NJ), March 11, 1938, noted that a Chinese restaurant on Mott Street in New York City offered “fresh shrimp with lobster sauce.” The Intelligencer Journal (PA), October 1, 1938, presented an advertisement for a diner with a menu special of “Fried, Fresh Shrimp with Lobster Sauce.” However, neither of these brief references described the “lobster sauce.” Did it actually contain lobster, or was it something very different?

Continued mentions of this lobster sauce occurred into the 1940s. The Morning Call (NJ), April 2, 1940, noted a Chinese restaurant that served “fresh shrimp with lobster sauce” while the Montclair Times (NJ), November 22, 1940, noted a different Chinese restaurant that also offered “fresh shrimp with lobster sauce.” The Evening Sun (MD), December 6, 1940, referenced a Chinese menu for a special event which served “Shrimp with lobster sauce” while the Miami News (FL), February 19, 1941, stated that Ruby Foo’s offered “shrimp with lobster sauce.” 

In an ad for the Fu Manchu restaurant, in the Miami News (FL), August 20, 1941, it said, “Shrimp with Lobster Sauce is our own creation! Culinary critics say it is beyond compare. Enjoy this seafood masterpiece at The House of Fu Manchu.” And in a restaurant advertisement in the Central New Jersey Home News (NJ), December 6, 1946, the dish was referred to as “Foo-Young Har-Kow (Fresh jumbo shrimp with lobster sauce).”

We finally got a peek into the contents of lobster sauce, in a recipe provided in the Boston Globe (MA), December 19, 1946. The recipe for Shrimp with Lobster Sauce had been submitted from a reader, who claimed they received it from Chinese cook in Arizona. The recipe first listed the ingredients: “One-half to 1 pound raw shrimp, 1 rounded teaspoon black beans, 2 cloves garlic, ½ cup peanut oil, 1 cup water, 1 teaspoon gourmet powder, dash pepper, 3 eggs, 3 scallions with tops, 2 teaspoons corn starch.” Then, it provided the directions: “Soak black beans until soft; crush with garlic. Heat oil in heavy skillet, add raw shrimp, beans and garlic. Saute for 3 to 5 minutes. Add water, gourmet powder and pepper. Cover and cook for eight minutes. Chop scallions with tops into ¼-inch pieces; add to eggs and stir slightly until yolks are broken. While shrimp mixture is boiling pour the scallion-egg mixture into the shrimp. Stir slightly and cook until egg is done. The egg should be cooked into shred-like pieces if mixing is done properly. Mix corn starch in enough water to form a smooth paste. Add to shrimp, stir and cook 2 min. Salt to taste.”

This is essentially the recipe for the same sauce used in Lobster Cantonese Style. So, “lobster sauce” may have acquired its name because it was the same sauce as that used in Lobster Cantonese Style. Shrimp was substituted for the lobster. However, I didn't find any evidence that supported shrimp were used as a substitute for expensive lobster. And later menu prices I found also seemed to indicate lobster dishes weren't highly expensive compared to many other dishes. In addition, the continued use of lobster in a variety of Chinese dishes, and at reasonable prices, seems to indicate the expense wasn’t truly an issue. 

Now, it would have made sense to refer to this dish as “Shrimp Cantonese Style” rather than call it “Shrimp with Lobster Sauce.” And actually, there were mentions of that exact name, extending back at least to 1938. The Columbus News (NE), December 22, 1938, briefly mentioned that someone’s favorite dish was “Shrimp Cantonese.” The Detroit Free Press (MI), January 30, 1941, mentioned a Detroit chef who made “a better shrimp, Cantonese.” Other references were in the Southwest Wave (CA), September 19, 1946, “Fried Shrimp, Cantonese style” and the Herald-News (NJ), April 4, 1947, “Fragrant Jumbo Shrimp—Cantonese Style.” The Tampa Bay Times (FL), January 3, 1948, noted that a restaurant dinner party served “breaded shrimp Cantonese” while a restaurant ad in the Pike County Dispatch (PA), July 1, 1948, included “Lobster Cantonese” and “Shrimp Cantonese.”

However, it seems that the term Lobster Sauce eventually became the more popular term, so that Shrimp Cantonese became much less common over the years. When the term shrimp with lobster sauce was first used, did customers know that the sauce didn't include any actual lobster? The menus wouldn't have mentioned that fact, so it's possible numerous customers didn't know they were eating minced pork rather than minced lobster. Unfortunately, none of the newspapers during this period addressed this issue. 

Lobster prices! How much did these dishes cost in the late 1940s? The Baltimore Sun (MD), July 5, 1947, presented a restaurant ad, noting that their week’s special was a dinner of Lobster Cantonese Style, including soup or appetizer, rice, dessert and drink. The lobsters were shipped directly from Maine. The dish normally cost $2 but was on special for $1.25. In September 1947, that same restaurant ran another special, but only lowered the lobster dish to $1.50.

The Tampa Bay Times (FL), April 10, 1949, published a menu for the China Inn noting that Fresh Shrimp with Lobster Sauce cost $2.25 while Fried Whole Lobster Cantonese Style cost $2.50. A very minor difference in price. There was another menu presented in the News-Journal (OH), April 24, 1949, which had a larger difference, with Fried Shrimp with Lobster Sauce for $1.35 and Fried Lobster Cantonese Style for $2.25. And in the Evening Star (D.C.), September 25, 1949, there was a menu that offered Shrimp, Lobster Sauce for $1.50 and Lobster, Cantonese Style for $2.00.

A new name for shrimp with lobster sauce. The Evening Sun (MD), November 8, 1948, published a restaurant ad which referred to shrimp with lobster sauce as Har Loong Woo.

The Los Angeles Mirror (CA), November 9, 1948, explained a bit about the contents of lobster sauce in a review of the Ming Room restaurant. It noted “Canton Shrimp with lobster sauce (garlic, egg, chopped pork, and soy bean).”

Another recipe was presented in the Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph (PA), August 28, 1949, for Shrimps with Lobster Sauce, and the ingredients included: ½ lb. finely ground lean pork, 1 tbsp. minced carrot, 1 tbsp minced celery, 1 tsp. salt, dash pepper, ¼ cup fat or salad oil, 1 tsp salt, dash pepper, 1 clove garlic, 1 cup bouillon, 2 lbs. raw shrimps, 1 egg slightly beaten, 2 tbsps cornstarch, ¼ water, and 2 tbsp minced scallions. This is similar to the prior recipe. The Brooklyn Daily Eagle (NY), September 22, 1949, presented a similar recipe for Shrimp with Lobster Sauce, Cantonese.

A variant recipe arose during the 1950s. The Boston Globe, January 22, 1952, published a recipe from one of their readers for Chinese Lobster Sauce. First, you made a mix of salt, pepper, chopped pork, carrot, celery, and scallion or onion. You then fried lobster with the pork, some bouillon, and an egg. Finally, you blended cornstarch, soy sauce, and water, and added it to the sauce. The addition of the soy sauce was different, and would provide the sauce a more brownish color, rather than the whiter color the dish normally had. This recipe, or very similar ones, would be repeated during the new few years.

For example, the Boston Sunday Advertiser, December 16, 1956, provided a recipe for Shrimp with Lobster Sauce, and the ingredients included both light and heavy soy sauce. The Boston Globe (MA), August 19, 1962, had a recipe for Foo-Young-Har-Kow (shrimp with lobster sauce) which used soy sauce and gravy darkener.

Nowadays, lobster sauce in New England is commonly a brown sauce, while it remains generally white in the rest of the country. Why the difference? I'll address that issue shortly.

A couple explanations were provided for the name of lobster sauce. The Boston Globe, November 29, 1962, published a letter from a reader who stated he was told by a Chinese restaurant owner, of over 30 years, that “lobster sauce never contained lobster. It is called lobster sauce merely because it is usually served over lobster or other sea foods. The trend is now to serve lobster sauce with shrimp.” And in the Sunday Herald Traveler (MA), May 3, 1970, it noted: “Don’t look for lobster in Shrimp with Lobster Sauce. The sauce is made of ground beef, of all things. The Cantonese use the same sauce for Lobster with Meat Sauce, which may explain the nonsensical name.”

Soy sauce made its appearance in Boston recipes for Shrimp with Lobster Sauce but it’s interesting that soy sauce also made an appearance in some recipes for Lobster Cantonese Style, and not just in New England. Both the Philadelphia Inquirer (PA), May 2, 1952 and the Chicago Tribune (IL), May 13, 1955, gave recipes for Chow-Loong Har (Cantonese Lobster), and each used soy sauce.

An explanation for the use of soy sauce in these recipes, including lobster sauce, might have been provided by a Chinese chef in New York City, who was discussed in an article in the New York Times, February 3, 1972. The chef indicated that he prepared Lobster Cantonese Style in two ways, one for Chinse customers and one for Americans. Both recipes were provided and there were a number of similarities and differences.

Both recipes included ¼ cup peanut oil, ¼ pound ground pork, 1 one‐and‐one‐quarter‐pound live lobster, ½ teaspoon salt, ⅛ teaspoon MSG (optional) and 1 egg, beaten. Both recipes also included the following ingredients, although the amounts differed: ¼ (vs ½) teaspoon chopped garlic, ½ cup (vs 1 ½) chicken stock, ¼ teaspoon (vs a few drops) sesame oil, and 1 teaspoon (vs 3 teaspoons) cornstarch. The Chinese version also included several ingredients that were not in the American version, included 1 teaspoon Chinese salted black beans, 3 or 4 slices fresh ginger root, ⅛ teaspoon dark soy sauce, and 1 or 2 sliced scallions. 

Thus, lobster sauce which included the use of soy sauce may have been created more for Chinese customers, although it also became popular with other customers as well. 

Although the exact origins of lobster sauce are still unknown, we know far more than what many other sources have provided. The dish's origins extend back to at least 1904, it's a variant of the sauce used in Lobster Cantonese Style, and expense wasn't a likely reason for the substitution of shrimp for lobster. Plus, we may understand better why the lobster sauce in New England is more of a brown sauce, but a white sauce in the rest of the country.