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Lobster a LA Bordelaise

A lobster dish made with onion, carrot, white sauce and red wine.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Carrot and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,555 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Lobster a LA Bordelaise

Ingredients

Directions

Make the base

  1. Cook the chopped onion and carrot in the milk used for the white sauce until soft.

  2. Add the lobster pieces and cook until heated through.

Finish and serve

  1. Stir in the white sauce.

  2. Add the red wine last.

  3. Serve hot.

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. Carrot + peppertop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,555 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Onion + carrottop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Red wine + peppertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,075 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

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

What each ingredient does

Lobster
Main protein that gives the dish its substance and sweet, rich seafood flavor.
White sauce
Creamy base that gives the dish a smooth, thick, coating texture.
Red wine
Adds acidity and depth of flavor to the sauce.
Onion
Softens and adds savory sweetness and aroma to the base.
Carrot
Softens and adds mild sweetness and body to the base.

The step that matters

Heating the lobster. Lobster meat is delicate and its proteins tighten when overheated, becoming tough and rubbery. Cook it only until it is heated through, then move on to the sauce.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lobster, sauce, carrot, red wine, pepper):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Tomatofits better
  3. Turnipfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against lobster, sauce, carrot, red wine, pepper. 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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