Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and 34,122 recipes mention both. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
Lobster with Cecil Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Cut the meat of a three-pound lobster into inch bits.
Make the sauce
Put one tablespoonful butter into a frying pan and mix with it one tablespoonful flour.
Add slowly one-half cup cream, one-half cup stock, the lobster with salt and pepper to taste.
Let boil up thoroughly.
Take from the fire and stir in the beaten yolk of one egg and one tablespoonful of chopped parsley.
Serve
Serve in paper cases or individual dishes.
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. See the original page.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Flour + parsleytop 12% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together16,675 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Butter + parsleytop 15% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together28,563 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
Butter and flour share little aroma chemistry, yet 124,287 recipes mention both: they likely work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Lobster (in the method)
- Forms the main body of the dish and provides the substance of the sauce.
- Butter
- Fat that combines with the flour to start the sauce and adds richness.
- Flour
- Thickens the cream and stock into a smooth sauce as it cooks.
- Cream
- Adds richness and body, giving the sauce a smooth, silky texture.
- Egg yolk
- Added off the heat to enrich and thicken the sauce slightly without curdling.
The step that matters
Stir in the egg yolk off the heat. Egg yolk thickens through gentle heat. Adding it to a boiling sauce can scramble it and leave bits of cooked egg, so it should be stirred in after the sauce is removed from the fire.
Flavor stand-ins for the parsley
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, flour, cream, egg, pepper):
- Nutmegbetter flavor fit
- Parsleythe original
- Tarragonabout as good a flavor fit
- Capersabout as good a flavor fit
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, flour, cream, egg, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).
“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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