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Salad

Lobster Salad

A salad of cooked lobster, celery, eggs, and mayonnaise dressing served on lettuce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Lettuce and mustard match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,356 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Lobster Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the dressing

  1. In a separate bowl, combine the mayonnaise, cayenne mustard, salt, and pepper.

  2. Mash the hard-boiled egg yolks into a paste and mix with the dressing.

Combine and serve

  1. Mix the chopped lobsters and celery together.

  2. Pour the dressing over the lobster and celery mixture and combine well.

  3. Serve on a bed of shredded lettuce, garnished with chopped egg whites and lettuce leaves.

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. Lettuce + mustardtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,356 recipes

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

  2. Celery + mustardtop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,169 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  3. Lettuce + celerytop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,033 recipes

    Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

  4. Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  5. Pepper + mustardtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,430 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Lobsters
Provides the main protein and sweet, firm meaty texture.
Mayonnaise
Adds fat and creaminess that binds the salad and coats the lobster.
Hard-boiled eggs
Mashed yolks thicken the dressing and add richness.
Celery
Adds crisp texture and a fresh, slightly sharp crunch.
Cayenne mustard
Adds sharp heat and acidity that cut through the richness of the dressing.

The step that matters

Mashing the egg yolks into a paste. Yolks must be mashed fully smooth before mixing; lumps stay unblended and leave pockets of dry yolk instead of a creamy, evenly emulsified dressing.

Swap the celery

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lobster, lettuce, butter, egg, pepper, mustard):

  1. Capersfits better
  2. Tarragonfits better
  3. Parsleyfits better
  4. Celerythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against lobster, lettuce, butter, egg, pepper, mustard. 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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