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Devilled Lobster

A dish of minced boiled lobster meat seasoned with mustard, cayenne, and pungent sauce, then heated with coral and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Lobster and sauce are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,095 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Devilled Lobster

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the lobster

  1. Extract the meat from the boiled lobster and mince it finely; reserve the coral.

  2. Season the lobster meat with mustard, cayenne, salt, and pungent sauce. Mix well.

  3. Place the mixture in a covered porcelain saucepan with just enough hot water to prevent burning.

Make the coral dressing

  1. Rub the coral smooth, adding vinegar until it is thin enough to pour easily.

  2. Prepare the dressing before heating the lobster meat.

  3. Stir the coral mixture into the saucepan.

Heat and finish

  1. Allow the dressing to boil once before adding the coral and vinegar.

  2. Stir in the butter.

  3. When it boils again, remove the pan from the heat.

  4. Avoid overcooking to keep the meat tender.

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 + saucetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,095 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Mustard + vinegartop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,430 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Mustard + saucetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,120 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Pepper + vinegartop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

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

What each ingredient does

Lobster meat
Forms the main body of the dish and is kept tender by gentle heating.
Mustard
Adds sharp, pungent flavour that cuts the richness of the lobster.
Cayenne pepper
Adds heat that gives the devilled character to the dish.
Butter
Adds fat for a rich, smooth mouthfeel in the finished dressing.
Coral
Thickens and enriches the sauce with its concentrated flavour and colour.

The step that matters

Avoid overcooking the lobster meat. Lobster protein toughens and turns rubbery when overheated, so the meat should be kept gently warm and removed from the heat once it boils again.

Swap the mustard

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lobster, pepper, sauce, butter, vinegar):

  1. Mustardthe original
  2. Capsicumfits about as well
  3. Shallotfits less well
  4. Horseradishfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against lobster, pepper, sauce, butter, vinegar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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