Skip to main content
Main

Lobster, Broiled

Broiled lobster served with white pepper and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Lobster and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,609 recipes. Both carry 2,6-nonadienal, which smells cucumber, green. The science ↓

Lobster, Broiled

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the lobster

  1. Split the lobster open from head to tail.

  2. Remove the lady fingers (inedible parts).

  3. Sprinkle white pepper over the meat.

  4. Place pieces of butter on the meat.

Broil and serve

  1. Lay the lobster shell open on a grill over a bright, clear fire.

  2. Broil for 15 minutes.

  3. Serve on a neatly folded napkin.

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. Lobster + buttertop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,609 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).

  2. White pepper + buttertop 28% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,814 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Lobster + white peppertop 32% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together174 recipes

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

What each ingredient does

Lobster
Forms the main body of the dish and provides the tender meat that cooks through under heat.
Butter
Adds moisture and richness, helping the lobster meat stay juicy while it broils.

The step that matters

Broil for 15 minutes. Lobster meat turns firm and rubbery when overcooked, while undercooked meat stays translucent and soft. Keeping the time and fire steady helps the meat cook evenly and stay tender.

Swap the white pepper

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against lobster, butter. 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

Lobster SauceLobster Sauce174 recipesLobster CroquettesLobster Croquettes99 recipesLobster BallsLobster Balls7 recipesTomato SoupTomato Soup526 recipes