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Lobster Chops or Cutlets

Fried lobster meat cutlets coated in cracker dust, garnished with a lobster claw.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Lobster Chops or Cutlets

Ingredients

Directions

Make the lobster filling

  1. Remove the lobster meat and cut it into small, even dice.

  2. Save the coral and green fat.

  3. In a thick saucepan, melt the butter and flour over medium heat until bubbling.

  4. Gradually stir in the milk or cream.

  5. Add the lobster meat, coral, and fat.

  6. Season with salt and cayenne pepper.

  7. Stir constantly until very hot.

  8. Remove from heat and mix in the egg yolks and sherry or Madeira.

  9. Let the mixture cool.

Shape and coat

  1. Shape the cooled mixture into small chops or cutlets using wet hands.

  2. Coat the chops in cracker dust.

  3. Set the coated chops aside.

  4. Beat the eggs smooth.

  5. Dip the chops in the beaten eggs.

  6. Coat the dipped chops again in cracker dust.

Fry and serve

  1. Heat fat in a frying kettle until smoking.

  2. Fry the chops in the hot fat until golden brown.

  3. Remove the fried chops with a skimmer and drain on brown paper.

  4. Garnish each chop with a small lobster claw.

  5. Serve the chops with parsley.

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. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Flour + parsleytop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together16,675 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Butter + sherrytop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,505 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Lobster
Forms the main body of the chops and gives them their flavour.
Butter
Enriches the sauce and adds richness to the filling.
Flour
Thickens the butter and milk into a binding base for the filling.
Milk or cream
Makes a smooth sauce that moistens the filling.
Egg yolks
Bind the filling and help it set when cooked.
Sherry or madeira
Adds aromatic depth and a touch of sweetness to the filling.

The step that matters

Let the mixture cool before shaping. A warm, soft filling is too loose to hold its shape and can break apart when coated. Cooling lets the starch-thickened sauce and egg yolks firm up so the chops keep their form through dipping and frying.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lobster, butter, flour, milk, pepper, egg, sherry):

  1. Nutmegfits about as well
  2. Parsleythe original
  3. Tarragonfits about as well
  4. Cinnamonfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against lobster, butter, flour, milk, pepper, egg, sherry. 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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