Skip to main content
Main

Lobster Balls

Lobster Balls are fried balls made from minced lobster meat seasoned with spices and coated in breadcrumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓
Lobster Balls

Why it works: Butter and bread 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 Balls

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the mixture

  1. Remove the meat from the lobster and mince it very finely.

  2. Pound the minced lobster with white pepper, salt, cayenne, nutmeg, and clarified butter.

  3. Form the mixture into balls the size of a large egg.

Coat and fry

  1. Dip each ball into the beaten egg, then coat with bread crumbs.

  2. Let the balls stand for a few minutes, then dip them a second time in egg and bread crumbs.

  3. Fry the balls in boiling oil until lightly browned all over.

  4. Drain on paper towels and serve on a hot napkin, garnished with parsley.

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.

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.

  1. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

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

  3. White pepper + nutmegtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,375 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  4. Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  5. Nutmeg + breadtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,997 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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 flavour and the bulk of the balls.
Clarified butter
Adds richness and moisture so the balls stay tender inside.
Beaten egg
Binds the coating so the bread crumbs adhere to each ball.
Fine dry bread crumbs
Forms a crisp outer crust that browns during frying.

The step that matters

Second egg and crumb coating. Letting the balls stand before the second coat gives the first layer time to set and dry, so the second coating adheres evenly and does not slide off in the hot oil.

Swap the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (meat, lobster, pepper, nutmeg, butter, egg, bread):

  1. Parsleyfits better
  2. Cinnamonfits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against meat, lobster, pepper, nutmeg, butter, egg, bread. 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.

You might also like

Brown BreadBrown Bread461 recipesLobster SauceLobster Sauce174 recipesLobster CroquettesLobster Croquettes99 recipesWhite BreadWhite Bread80 recipes