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Lobster Patties

A savory patty made with diced lobster, flour, butter, cream, egg yolk, and optional coral and anchovy sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Anchovy and sauce are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,057 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Lobster Patties

Ingredients

Directions

Make the filling

  1. In a saucepan, melt butter and flour over medium heat until bubbling.

  2. Gradually pour in cream or milk, stirring until smooth.

  3. Add pounded coral and anchovy sauce, if using, and boil for 2-3 minutes.

  4. Beat the egg yolk with cold milk and stir it in gradually.

  5. Add the lobster meat while stirring.

  6. Return to heat until just boiling, but do not boil.

  7. Keep the mixture hot in a saucepan of hot water until ready to fill the patty cases.

Fill and bake

  1. Fill the patty cases with the hot filling.

  2. Cover the filled cases.

  3. Bake until golden.

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. Anchovy + saucetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Lobster + anchovytop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together470 recipes

    Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).

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

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Lobster + creamtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,050 recipes

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

  5. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

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

What each ingredient does

Hen lobster
Provides the main meaty texture and flavour of the filling.
Butter and flour
Form a roux that thickens the cream into a smooth, stable sauce.
Cream or milk
Adds moisture and richness, creating the body of the sauce.
Egg yolk
Enriches and thickens the filling as it gently heats, adding richness.

The step that matters

Return to heat without boiling. Egg yolk thickens the filling as it warms, but if it boils it can curdle and turn grainy, so the mixture should only just reach boiling point.

“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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