Why it works: Lemon and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,047 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓
Lobster Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Make the sauce
In a stewpan, heat 12 tablespoons of melted butter until just boiling.
Add the lobster butter and stir until melted.
Season with essence of anchovies, lemon juice, and cayenne pepper.
Pass the sauce through a tammy into another stewpan.
Finish and serve
Add the lobster flesh and heat until hot.
Serve immediately.
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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Lemon + peppertop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together27,047 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,227 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Butter + lobstertop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,609 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
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Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together85,593 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Lobster + peppertop 27% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,247 recipes
Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Melted butter
- Forms the rich base of the sauce and carries the flavour of the other ingredients.
- Lobster butter
- Adds concentrated lobster flavour and colour to the sauce.
- Lobster flesh
- Supplies pieces of tender lobster meat that are gently warmed through in the sauce.
- Essence of anchovies
- Adds a savoury, salty depth that rounds out the sauce.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the rich butter and lobster flavours.
The step that matters
Heating the butter until just boiling. Butter that boils hard can separate, leaving a greasy sauce with a burnt taste. Stopping at just boiling keeps the emulsion stable and the flavour clean.
“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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