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Lobster, Gratin of

A chilled lobster salad with mayonnaise, served on lettuce and garnished with lobster coral, beetroot, and hard‑boiled eggs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Lettuce and beetroot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 678 recipes. Both carry 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells green bell pepper, earthy. The science ↓

Lobster, Gratin of

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the salad

  1. Remove the meat from the lobster and cut it into small squares.

  2. Trim and wash the lettuces, ensuring they are completely dry.

  3. Tear the lettuces into pieces and layer them in a large dish.

  4. Add layers of lobster on top of the lettuce until all ingredients are used.

Make the mayonnaise

  1. In a bowl, beat the egg yolks for 2–3 minutes until thick.

  2. Gradually add the salad oil, beating well after each addition.

  3. Add the tarragon vinegar and continue to mix until the sauce is thick and smooth.

  4. Season the mayonnaise with dry mustard, salt, and white pepper.

Serve

  1. Pour the mayonnaise over the salad just before serving.

  2. Garnish with powdered lobster coral, sliced beetroot, and hard-boiled eggs.

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 + beetroottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together678 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

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

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

  3. Lettuce + tarragontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together425 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Tarragon + beetroottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together184 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Tarragon + mustardtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together901 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

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

What each ingredient does

Egg yolks
Emulsify the oil and vinegar into a thick, smooth mayonnaise.
Salad oil
Provides fat and richness, forming the body of the mayonnaise.
Tarragon vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the mayonnaise and balances the oil.
Lobster
Supplies the main protein and the sweet, delicate flavour of the dish.
Lettuces
Form the crisp base layer that holds the lobster and dressing.

The step that matters

Adding the salad oil gradually. Oil must be added slowly while beating so it disperses into the egg yolks as tiny droplets. Adding it too fast can break the emulsion, leaving the mayonnaise thin and oily instead of thick and smooth.

Swap the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lobster, lettuce, tarragon, vinegar, egg, mustard, beetroot):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against lobster, lettuce, tarragon, vinegar, egg, mustard, beetroot. 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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