Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Lobster Stewed
Ingredients
Directions
Combine the cut lobster with milk or cream in a stew-pan.
Bring to a boil briefly.
Add butter and pepper, then stir to combine.
Serve plain or on toasted crackers.
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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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Lobster + buttertop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,609 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
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Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together85,593 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Milk + peppertop 22% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together26,984 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
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Lobster + milktop 27% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together489 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Lobster
- Provides the main protein and sweet, delicate flavor of the stew.
- Milk or cream
- Supplies moisture and a rich, creamy liquid base for the stew.
- Butter
- Adds fat that gives the stew a smooth, rounded mouthfeel and richness.
The step that matters
Bringing the stew to a boil. Only a brief boil is needed. Prolonged or vigorous boiling toughens lobster protein and can make the milk or cream separate or scorch, so heat should be kept gentle once it starts to bubble.
“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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