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 ↓
Lobster Butter
Ingredients
Directions
Make the butter
Pound the lobster coral or spawn until smooth.
Mix with an equal amount of fresh butter and rub through a sieve.
Add lemon juice and chopped parsley to the mixture.
Serve
Use the lobster butter for spreading on bread or toast, or for assembling large pieces of lobster.
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.
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Lemon + parsleytop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,037 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Butter + parsleytop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together28,563 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
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Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,227 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Lobster + buttertop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,609 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
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Lobster + parsleytop 24% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together890 recipes
Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Lobster coral or spawn
- Provides the rich, distinctive flavour and the orange colour of the butter.
- Fresh butter
- Carries the coral and gives the mixture a smooth, spreadable fat base.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the rich lobster and butter flavour.
The step that matters
Rub through a sieve. Pounding alone leaves fibrous or gritty bits in the coral. Pressing the mixture through a sieve while it is blended with butter gives a smooth, even spread.
“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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