Why it works: Anchovy and sauce are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,057 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Lobster Cream
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the base
Boil the milk and pour it over the bread crumbs.
Chop the lobster very fine.
Beat the eggs, then mix the lobster, anchovy sauce, cayenne, and salt into the cooled bread crumbs.
Finally, add the cream and mix well.
Steam and serve
Butter a mold and fill it with the mixture.
Cover with buttered paper and steam for 1 hour.
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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Anchovy + saucetop 2% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,057 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Lobster + anchovytop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together470 recipes
Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).
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Lobster + saucetop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,095 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Lobster + creamtop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,050 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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Sauce + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,787 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Bind the mixture and help it set firm when steamed.
- Bread crumbs
- Soak up the hot milk to give the mixture body and a soft structure.
- Lobster
- Provides the main flavour and firm, tender bits throughout the custard.
- Cream
- Adds richness and moisture, giving a smoother, softer texture.
- Milk
- Hydrates the bread crumbs and adds moisture to the mixture.
The step that matters
Cool the bread crumbs before adding the eggs. Eggs added to very hot crumbs can scramble and turn grainy, so the crumbs should be cooled before the beaten eggs go in, keeping the mixture smooth.
“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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