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Lobster Croquettes

A fried appetizer made with finely chopped lobster, bread crumbs, and seasonings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Lobster Croquettes

Why it works: Pepper and celery match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 16,012 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Lobster Croquettes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Chop the lobster very fine.

  2. Mix the lobster with pepper, coarse sea salt, and bread crumbs.

  3. Season well with celery sauce and moisten with melted butter.

  4. Mold the mixture into shape.

Coat and fry

  1. Dip each croquette in beaten egg, then coat with cracker crumbs.

  2. Fry in hot oil until golden brown.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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 + celerytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

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

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

  4. Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  5. Sauce + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together15,338 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Sauce and butter 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 flavor and the bulk of the croquette filling.
Bread crumbs
Absorb moisture and bind the mixture so it holds its shape.
Beaten egg
Binds the coating so the cracker crumbs adhere to each croquette.
Melted butter
Moistens the filling and adds richness and flavor.
Cracker crumbs
Form a crisp, golden outer crust when fried.

The step that matters

Fry in hot oil until golden brown. If the oil is not hot enough, the croquettes absorb excess oil and turn greasy instead of crisp. Frying at a high temperature sets the crust quickly, helping the filling stay moist inside.

Swap the celery

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

  1. Capersfits better
  2. Parsleyfits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. Celerythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against lobster, pepper, bread, sauce, butter, egg. 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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