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Deviled Lobster

A deviled lobster dish with minced lobster meat, mustard, cayenne, salt, sauce, butter, and coral.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Lobster and sauce are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,095 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Deviled Lobster

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the lobster

  1. Extract the meat from the boiled lobster and mince it finely.

  2. Reserve the coral.

Make the dressing

  1. Season the lobster meat with mustard, cayenne, salt, and pungent sauce, and stir until well mixed.

  2. Rub the coral smooth, then add vinegar to the coral until it is thin enough to pour easily.

  3. Prepare the dressing before heating the lobster meat.

Cook and finish

  1. Place the mixture in a covered porcelain saucepan with enough water to prevent burning.

  2. Allow the lobster mixture to boil once before adding the coral and vinegar, then stir this into the saucepan.

  3. Stir in the butter.

  4. Remove the pan from heat once it boils again.

  5. Do not overcook to prevent tough meat.

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. Lobster + saucetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,095 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Mustard + vinegartop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,430 recipes

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

  4. Mustard + saucetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,120 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Meat + mustardtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together855 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Lobster meat
Forms the body of the dish and sets to a tender texture when gently heated.
Coral
Adds richness and colour to the sauce once rubbed smooth and thinned.
Mustard
Adds sharp flavour that balances the richness of the lobster and butter.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a smooth, silky mouthfeel.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the flavour and thins the coral into a pourable sauce.

The step that matters

Remove the pan from heat once it boils again. Lobster meat becomes tough and rubbery when overcooked, because heat tightens its proteins. Stopping at the first boil keeps it tender.

Swap the mustard

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

  1. Mustardthe original
  2. Capsicumfits about as well
  3. Shallotfits less well
  4. Onionfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against lobster, meat, pepper, sauce, vinegar, butter. 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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