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Broiled Lobster

Broiled lobster with butter, salt, pepper, and a sauce of green liver and coral.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Lobster and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,609 recipes. Both carry 2,6-nonadienal, which smells cucumber, green. The science ↓

Broiled Lobster

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Parboil the lobster until it begins to turn red, then remove from heat.

  2. Split the lobster down the back and discard the intestines.

  3. Remove the green liver and coral, and set aside.

Broil and serve

  1. Broil the lobster shell side up for 20 minutes, then turn it flesh side up for 5 minutes.

  2. Place on a hot serving dish and season with salt, pepper, and butter.

  3. Mix the green liver and coral with melted butter and serve as a sauce.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Lobster + buttertop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,609 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).

  2. Butter + livertop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,065 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  3. Pepper + livertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,375 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  4. Pepper + buttertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  5. Lobster + peppertop 27% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,247 recipes

    Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Lobster
Forms the main protein, which turns firm and opaque as it cooks through.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture to the lobster meat and carries the flavour of the sauce.
Green lobster liver
Contributes a rich, savoury depth to the butter sauce.
Coral
Adds a rich, savoury flavour to the butter sauce.

The step that matters

Broil the lobster shell side up for 20 minutes, then turn it flesh side up for 5 minutes.. Shell side up shields the delicate meat from direct heat while the shell cooks, and the shorter flesh-side finish prevents the meat from drying out and toughening. Turning at the right time matters for even, tender cooking.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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