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Lobster Stew

A stew of lobster meat in a sauce of butter, flour, water, milk, stock, onion, seasoned with salt, pepper, cayenne.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Mary Ronald · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Lobster Stew

Ingredients

Directions

Make the sauce

  1. Put into a saucepan one tablespoonful of butter and one teaspoonful of chopped onion.

  2. Before it takes color add one tablespoonful of flour, and cook, but not brown.

  3. Then add slowly one cupful of water in which the lobster was boiled, one cupful of milk, and one cupful of good stock.

  4. Add the lobster meat.

Plate and serve

  1. When it has become thoroughly hot remove the meat and place it on the dish on which it is to be served, arranging it in the shape of a lobster as far as possible.

  2. Cut the tail-piece into thick slices, without changing its position.

  3. Season the sauce with salt, pepper and cayenne, and pour it over the meat.

  4. Place around the edges triangular croutons, and garnish with head, small claws, and tail.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

849Calories
46 gProtein
21 gFat
117 gCarbs

Counts 5 of 6 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 5 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Shrimp100g cooked99
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Waternot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Mary Ronald. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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 their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  2. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Butter + oniontop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together42,912 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Flour + oniontop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together32,460 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they 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

Butter
Enriches the sauce and carries the onion flavor as it cooks.
Flour
Thickens the liquid into a smooth sauce when cooked briefly with the butter.
Milk
Adds body and creaminess to the sauce.
Lobster
Provides the main meat and flavor of the stew.

The step that matters

Cook the flour without browning it. Flour cooked only until pale thickens the liquid smoothly with a mild taste. If it browns, it gives a toasted flavor and weaker thickening, changing the sauce's color and taste.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Potatofits better
  2. Shallotfits better
  3. Chivefits better
  4. Onionthe original

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