Name: Lobster Soup
Ingredients: 1 teaspoonful of flour; 1 pint of cream; 1 pint of milk; 2 quarts of water; 2 pints of water; 1/2 pint of milk; 1/2 pint of veal; 4 tablespoonfuls of cream; 2 tablespoonfuls of the liquor the macaroni was boiled; 1/2 pint of brown gravy; 2 tablespoonfuls of brandy; a small piece of butter mixed; a pint of good brown gravy; 3 large lobsters; 6 small ones; 2 anchovies; 1 onion; 1 small bunch of sweet herbs; 1 strip of lemon-peel; 1 egg; one boil up; 8 persons; 7 persons; 2 eggs; 4 persons; 2 pints; 1/2 lemon; 3 eggs; 6 persons; nutmeg

Why it works: Cream and lobster are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,050 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-one, which smells mushroom, metallic. The science ↓

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.

Cream + lobstertop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,050 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,516 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together78,219 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Flour and butter 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

Lobster: Supplies the main flavour and meat for both the stock and the forcemeat balls.
Cream: Adds richness and a smooth, silky body to the soup.
Milk: Thins the soup and adds mild sweetness and body alongside the cream.
Flour: Thickens the soup and helps bind the forcemeat balls.
Egg: Moistens and binds the forcemeat balls so they hold together in the soup.

The step that matters

Give one boil up, at the same time adding the tails cut in pieces.. Boiling the soup after adding the cream and milk can cause it to curdle or separate, so it should be brought up only briefly and kept from rapid boiling.

Swap the onion

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

Potatofits better
Shallotfits about as well
Chivefits about as well
Onionthe original

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

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Lobster	100g cooked	98
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Cream	1 tbsp (15ml) heavy	51
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Lemon	juice of 1 lemon (48ml)	12
Nutmeg	1 tsp ground (2.2g)	12
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Water	not in our table	0
Veal	not in our table	0
Liquor	not in our table	0
Macaroni	not in our table	0
Brandy	not in our table	0
Mace	not in our table	0

Lobster Soup

Lobster Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the stock

Make the soup

Make forcemeat balls and serve

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)