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Deviled Lobster

A lobster dish prepared with mustard, cayenne, vinegar, butter, and a coral sauce.

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 ↓

Deviled Lobster

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the lobster

  1. Remove the meat from the boiled lobster and mince it finely.

  2. Reserve the coral and season the lobster meat with mustard, cayenne, and pungent sauce.

  3. Stir the lobster meat until well mixed.

Make the coral sauce

  1. Rub the coral smooth.

  2. Add vinegar to the coral until it is thin enough to pour easily.

  3. Stir the coral mixture into the lobster meat before heating.

Heat and finish

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

  2. Heat the mixture until it boils once.

  3. Stir in the butter.

  4. Remove from heat as soon as it boils again to avoid toughening the meat.

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. Meat + mustardtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together855 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Lobster meat
Forms the body of the dish, and gentle heat keeps its texture tender.
Coral from the lobster
Thickens and enriches the mixture with a rich, savoury flavour.
Mustard
Adds sharp, pungent flavour that balances the richness of the lobster.
Vinegar
Thins the coral and adds acidity that brightens the flavour.
Butter
Adds fat for a smooth, rich mouthfeel as it is stirred in.

The step that matters

Remove from heat as soon as it boils again. Prolonged or strong heat toughens the proteins in lobster meat, making it rubbery. Stopping heat promptly keeps the meat tender and moist.

Swap the mustard

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against meat, lobster, pepper, sauce, vinegar, butter. 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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