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Broiled Lobsters

Broiled Lobsters are cooked by boiling, then broiling over coals, served with lemon, parsley, butter, cheese, and chili sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Lemon and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,037 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Broiled Lobsters

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the lobster

  1. Select a medium-sized lobster that is heavy for its size and has a firm shell.

  2. Pour boiling water over the lobster and let it sit in hot water for 6 to 10 minutes.

  3. Remove the lobster and wipe it with a dry cloth.

  4. Break off the large claws and crack them without removing the meat.

  5. Open the lobster with a sharp knife along the stomach line between the small claws.

Broil and serve

  1. Place the lobster on a wire broiler and hold it over a hot bed of coals, turning often.

  2. When water stops running from the lobster, it is done.

  3. Broil the large claws until the shell cracks open.

  4. Serve on a large platter garnished with lemon slices and parsley, alongside drawn butter, melted cheese, and chili sauce.

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. Lemon + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,037 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Lobster + saucetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,095 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Butter + cheesetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,962 recipes

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

  4. Butter + saucetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together15,338 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Parsley + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together28,563 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

Butter and sauce barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 15,338 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
Provides the main meat, which turns firm and opaque as it cooks.
Drawn butter
Adds fat and richness to the mild lobster meat when served.
Melted cheese
Adds fat and savory flavor, and melts into a rich topping when served.

The step that matters

Holding the lobster over the coals. Lobster meat cooks quickly and turns tough and rubbery if overcooked. Turning it often over a hot bed of coals helps it cook evenly without scorching the shell.

“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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