Why it works: Pepper and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,047 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓
Lobster Patties
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Make the sauce
Mash the small claws and spawn in a dish until it forms a paste.
Add gravy and bread crumbs.
Heat the mixture over the fire until boiling.
Strain the mixture until it reaches the thickness of cream.
Prepare the filling
Combine half of the strained mixture with the lobster, butter, pepper, salt, and lemon juice.
Warm the mixture until the butter melts, then let it cool.
Line a patty pan or dish with puff pastry.
Fill the pan with the lobster mixture.
Cover with more puff pastry.
Bake and serve
Bake at 400°F (200°C) for about 45 minutes.
Cut the top pastry cover.
Warm the remaining sauce with a little butter until thickened.
Pour the sauce over the patty.
Add a squeeze of lemon.
Place the cut pastry cover on top, leaving space to see the filling.
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.
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Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together27,047 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
-
Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
-
Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,227 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
-
Bread + peppertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,964 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Lobster
- Provides the main flesh and flavour of the filling.
- Small claws and spawn
- Mashed into a paste to add concentrated lobster flavour and body to the sauce.
- Gravy
- Adds liquid and savoury depth to the sauce base.
- Bread crumbs
- Thicken the mixture by absorbing liquid, giving it a soft body.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat, carrying flavour and keeping the filling moist.
- Puff pastry
- Forms a flaky, layered crust that browns as it bakes.
The step that matters
Strain the mixture until it reaches the thickness of cream. The sauce must be smooth and properly thickened; straining removes solids so the sauce coats the filling rather than leaving it grainy or watery.
“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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