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Lobster Croquettes

A savory dish of minced lobster mixed with spices, beaten egg, and breadcrumbs, then fried.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Lobster Croquettes

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 Croquettes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the filling

  1. Carefully remove the meat from the lobster shell and mince it finely.

  2. Pound the coral and spawn in a mortar.

  3. Mix the pounded coral and spawn with nutmeg, cayenne, anchovy sauce, white sauce, and beaten egg yolks.

  4. Stir the mixture over gentle heat until the egg is set.

  5. Spread the mixture on a plate and let it cool.

Shape and fry

  1. Shape the cooled mixture into cork-like forms.

  2. Dip each croquette in beaten egg, then roll in breadcrumbs.

  3. Fry the croquettes in hot fat until lightly browned all over.

  4. Drain and serve on a folded 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. 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. Nutmeg + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

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

  5. Anchovy + eggtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,330 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

What each ingredient does

Hen lobster meat and coral
Provides the main flavour and bulk of the filling.
Eggs
Set when gently heated, binding the filling so it holds its shape.
White sauce
Adds moisture and body, keeping the filling soft and cohesive.
Breadcrumbs (in the method)
Form a crisp, golden coating that browns when fried.

The step that matters

Stir the mixture over gentle heat until the egg is set. Egg proteins coagulate at moderate temperatures and thicken the filling. Too much heat curdles the egg and makes it grainy and watery, so the croquettes will not hold their shape.

Swap the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (meat, lobster, pepper, anchovy, sauce, egg):

  1. Capersfits better
  2. Parsleyfits better
  3. Tarragonfits about as well
  4. Nutmegthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against meat, lobster, pepper, anchovy, sauce, egg. 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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