Why it works: Bread and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Lobster Croquettes
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Chop the boiled lobster finely and season with coarse sea salt.
Mix the lobster with fine bread crumbs and melted butter.
Shape and coat
Form the mixture into balls.
Roll each ball in the beaten egg, then in fine bread crumbs.
Fry and serve
Fry the croquettes in hot lard until golden brown.
Serve immediately.
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.
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Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
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Bread + meattop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,924 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Lobster + meattop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together909 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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Meat + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,594 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Boiled lobster
- Provides the main flavour and protein that forms the filling.
- Fine bread crumbs
- Absorb the butter and add body so the filling holds its shape.
- Melted butter
- Adds richness and moisture to the filling.
- Beaten egg
- Binds the coating so the crumbs stick and set during frying.
- Hot lard
- Conducts heat to crisp the outside and brown the coating.
The step that matters
Fry in hot lard until golden brown. If the lard is not hot enough, the coating absorbs fat and turns greasy before it crisps, and the filling can fall apart. Hot fat sets the egg and crumb crust quickly, sealing in the moist lobster.
“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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