Why it works: Bread and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Lobster Croquettes
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the mixture
Pound the leftover lobster meat until the dark and light meat and coral are well mixed.
Mix in ½ cup of fine bread crumbs, ¼ teaspoon black pepper, ¼ teaspoon coarse sea salt, and a pinch of cayenne pepper.
Add 2 tablespoons of melted butter if the mixture is dry.
Shape and coat
Form the mixture into egg-shaped or round balls.
Roll each ball in beaten egg, then coat with additional fine bread crumbs.
Fry
Fry the croquettes in boiling lard until golden brown.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
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Meat + breadtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,924 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Lobster + meattop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together909 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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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
- Leftover lobster meat
- Provides the main protein and flavor of the croquettes.
- Fine bread crumbs
- Absorb moisture and give the mixture body so the balls hold their shape.
- Egg
- Binds the mixture and forms a coating that helps the crumbs stick.
- Melted butter
- Adds moisture and richness to a dry mixture.
The step that matters
Coat with egg and bread crumbs. Egg and crumbs form a sealed outer layer; if the balls are not evenly coated, they can break open or leak in the hot lard, and the coating browns unevenly.
“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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