Why it works: Sauce and lobster 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 ↓
Sauce Homard
Ingredients
Directions
In a bowl, combine the cream sauce with the chopped lobster meat.
Add the coral for coloring, along with salt, pepper, and cayenne to taste.
If available, mix in the cream and boiling water or stock for a richer sauce.
If you don't have cream, rub the coral with the butter and add it just before serving.
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.
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Sauce + lobstertop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,095 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Cream + lobstertop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,050 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Cream + saucetop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,787 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Meat + lobstertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together909 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cream sauce
- Forms the base of the sauce, giving it body and a smooth, coating texture.
- Lobster meat
- Supplies the main flavor and tender bite of the sauce.
- Coral
- Adds a rich color to the sauce; it is rubbed smooth so it blends evenly.
- Cream
- Adds richness and fat, making the sauce smoother and silkier.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness when cream is not used, carrying flavor into the sauce.
The step that matters
Adding the coral. Coral must be rubbed smooth so no grainy bits remain, and butter helps it blend evenly into the sauce. Adding it just before serving keeps its color bright.
“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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