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Lobster Faeoi

A baked lobster meat filling served in its shell, topped with bread crumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Lobster Faeoi

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

  1. In a saucepan, melt 2 tablespoons of butter until it bubbles.

  2. Add 2 tablespoons of flour and cook without browning.

  3. Slowly add 1 cup of milk, stirring until smooth.

  4. Remove from heat and mix in salt, pepper, parsley, and finely mashed egg yolks.

Fill and bake

  1. Fold in the lobster meat cut into ½ inch pieces using a silver knife.

  2. Wash and dry the lobster shell, then cut out the inside of the tail shell.

  3. Fit the two parts of the shell together, trimming the sides for a spoon opening.

  4. Fill the shell with the lobster mixture and cover with moistened bread crumbs.

  5. Bake in a preheated oven at 400°F (200°C) for a few minutes until browned.

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. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  2. Parsley + nutmegtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,062 recipes

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

  3. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  4. Nutmeg + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

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

  5. Nutmeg + flourtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,623 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Boiled lobster meat
Provides the main filling and sweet, delicate seafood flavor.
Butter
Enriches the sauce and helps the bread crumbs brown in the oven.
Flour
Thickens the milk into a smooth white sauce that holds the filling together.
Milk or cream
Forms the liquid base of the sauce, giving it body and creaminess.
Hard-cooked egg yolks
Add richness and body to the filling, thickening it slightly.
Bread crumbs
Form a crisp, golden topping when baked.

The step that matters

Cook the flour and butter without browning. Cooking the roux only until it bubbles, without browning, keeps the flavor mild and white. Stirring in the milk slowly prevents lumps, so the sauce stays smooth and thick enough to bind the lobster.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lobster, meat, milk, butter, nutmeg, flour, pepper):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Parsleythe original
  3. Thymefits about as well
  4. Turmericfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against lobster, meat, milk, butter, nutmeg, flour, pepper. 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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