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Hot Lobster

A baked pastry shaped like a lobster, made from lobster meat, butter, seasonings, bread crumbs, and eggs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Nutmeg and mace are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,557 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓

Hot Lobster

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the lobster mixture

  1. Remove the meat from the lobster and blend it with the butter and seasonings until smooth.

  2. Add a few bread crumbs to the mixture.

  3. Beat the eggs and combine them with the lobster mixture, shaping it to resemble a lobster.

  4. Pound the lobster spawn and sprinkle it over the top.

Bake and serve

  1. Bake for 1 hour at 350°F (175°C).

  2. Before serving, place the lobster shell and small claws underneath to resemble a lobster.

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. Nutmeg + macetop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,557 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  2. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

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

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

  4. Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  5. Nutmeg + breadtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,997 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

What each ingredient does

Lobster
Provides the main flavor and the meaty body of the patty.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture, keeping the mixture tender as it bakes.
Eggs
Bind the mixture and set during baking to hold the shape.
Bread crumbs
Absorb moisture and add body, giving the patty a softer, sliceable texture.

The step that matters

Blending the lobster with butter until smooth. Over-blending can turn the meat pasty, while under-blending leaves uneven texture. Smoothness helps the mixture bind evenly so the patties hold together and bake uniformly.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lobster, butter, nutmeg, pepper, bread, egg):

  1. Parsleyfits better
  2. Cinnamonfits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against lobster, butter, nutmeg, pepper, bread, egg. 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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