Why it works: Lobster and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,050 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-one, which smells mushroom, metallic. The science ↓
Lobster Sauce for Fish
Ingredients
Directions
Make the sauce
In a saucepan, combine the finely chopped lobster and cream.
Thicken the mixture with flour, stirring well.
Season
Add coarse sea salt and a little vinegar to taste.
If desired, add pepper to the sauce.
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.
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Lobster + creamtop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,050 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,814 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Flour + peppertop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together50,459 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Cream + flourtop 20% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together30,481 recipes
Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).
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Lobster + flourtop 22% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,034 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Soft parts of lobster
- Adds the main shellfish flavour and aroma to the cream base.
- Cream
- Provides richness and a smooth, silky texture through its fat content.
- Flour
- Thickens the cream as its starch swells when heated, giving the sauce body.
The step that matters
Thicken the mixture with flour, stirring well. Flour starch must be dispersed evenly and heated to thicken. Stirring while adding it keeps the starch from clumping into lumps, and the sauce thickens smoothly as it warms.
“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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