Why it works: Meat and lobster work together. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 909 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-one, which smells mushroom, metallic. The science ↓
Lobster Salad
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the lobster
Marinate the lobster meat in French dressing for 1 hour in a cold place.
Drain the lobster and mix it with a little mayonnaise.
Assemble and serve
Place the mixture on a flat dish surrounded by lettuce leaves, shaping it high in the center.
Cover the lobster salad thickly with mayonnaise.
Garnish with the heart of the lettuce and sprinkle with powdered coral.
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.
-
Meat + lobstertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together909 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
-
Lobster + lettucetop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together411 recipes
Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).
-
Meat + lettucetop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together579 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Lobster meat
- Provides the main protein and texture of the salad.
- Mayonnaise
- Adds richness and moisture, binding the lobster and coating the surface.
- French dressing
- Seasons the lobster and adds acidity and moisture during marinating.
- Lettuce leaves
- Offer a crisp, fresh base and contrast in texture.
The step that matters
Marinate the lobster in a cold place. Keeping the lobster cold during the hour of marinating slows bacterial growth and keeps the delicate meat firm, while the acidic dressing seasons it gradually.
Swap the lettuce
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (meat, lobster):
- Mustardfits better
- Lettucethe original
- Shallotfits about as well
- Potatofits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against meat, lobster. 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.
More lobster salad recipes
You might also like
Lobster Sauce174 recipes
Lobster Croquettes99 recipes
Meat Croquettes52 recipes
Meatballs37 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.