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Stewed Lobster

A stew of lobster meat simmered in veal broth with onion and nutmeg.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Meat and lobster work together. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 909 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-one, which smells mushroom, metallic. The science ↓

Stewed Lobster

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the base

  1. In a pot, bring the veal broth to a boil.

  2. Add the minced onion and cook until softened.

Add the lobster and finish

  1. Cut the lobster meat into strips and add to the pot.

  2. Season with nutmeg and salt to taste.

  3. Thicken the mixture as desired and serve.

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. Meat + lobstertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together909 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  2. Onion + nutmegtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,371 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  3. Meat + oniontop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together6,364 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  4. Veal + oniontop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together6,841 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  5. Meat + vealtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,890 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

What each ingredient does

Lobster meat
Provides the main protein; its proteins firm and toughen with heat, giving the stew body.
Veal broth
Forms the liquid base and carries savory, meaty flavor through the stew.
Onion
Softened onion adds sweetness and aromatic depth to the broth.

The step that matters

Adding the lobster meat. Lobster is delicate, and its proteins tighten and turn rubbery under prolonged heat, so keep it gentle once it goes into the hot broth.

Swap the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (meat, lobster, veal, onion):

  1. Garlicfits better
  2. Capersfits better
  3. Celeryfits better
  4. Nutmegthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against meat, lobster, veal, onion. 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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