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Lobster Sandwiches

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and tarragon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,399 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Lobster Sandwiches

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Cut the lobster into small dice.

  2. Sprinkle with coarse sea salt, red pepper, and tarragon or vinegar.

  3. Let it stand for a few minutes, then add melted butter.

  4. Once cool, place the mixture on thin, buttered slices of bread.

  5. Cover with a second buttered slice, trim off the crusts, and cut to desired size.

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. Pepper + tarragontop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,399 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

  3. Lobster + tarragontop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together109 recipes

    Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).

  4. Pepper + breadtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,964 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Tarragon + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,572 recipes

    Shared aroma: anethole (sweet, anise).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Swap the tarragon

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

  1. Parsleyfits better
  2. Tarragonthe original
  3. Nutmegfits about as well
  4. Capersfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against lobster, pepper, butter, bread. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

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