Why it works: Bread and butter 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 Croquettes
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the mixture
Pound the leftover lobster meat until the dark and light meat are well mixed.
Add fine bread crumbs, seasoning with pepper, coarse sea salt, and a little cayenne pepper.
Mix in melted butter, about 2 tablespoons if the bread crumbs are dry.
Shape and coat
Form the mixture into egg-shaped or round balls.
Roll the balls in beaten eggs, then in fine bread crumbs.
Fry
Fry in boiling lard until golden brown.
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.
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Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
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Meat + breadtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,924 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Lobster + meattop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together909 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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Bread + peppertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,964 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Leftover lobster meat
- Provides the main flavor and the bulk of the croquette filling.
- Fine bread crumbs
- Absorb moisture and bind the filling so it holds its shape.
- Melted butter
- Adds richness and moisture to the filling, helping it stay tender.
- 2 eggs
- Bind the coating so the bread crumbs adhere to the balls.
The step that matters
Fry in boiling lard until golden brown. The lard must be hot enough to brown the crumb coating quickly. If the oil is too cool, the coating absorbs excess fat and turns greasy before it browns, and the filling can fall apart.
“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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