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Lobster Croquettes

A fried roll of preserved lobster mixed with spices, bread crumbs, and butter, coated in cracker dust.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Lobster Croquettes

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 Croquettes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the mixture

  1. In a bowl, combine the chopped lobster, pepper, coarse sea salt, and powdered mace.

  2. Mix in the bread crumbs and melted butter until well combined.

Shape and coat

  1. Shape the mixture into egg-shaped rolls.

  2. Dip each roll in the raw egg, then coat with cracker dust.

Fry and serve

  1. Fry the rolls in butter or lard until golden brown.

  2. Serve hot, garnished with cresses or 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.

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.

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

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

  2. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  4. Mace + parsleytop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,268 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  5. Butter + parsleytop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together28,563 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

Preserved lobster
Provides the main flavour and the bulk of the croquette filling.
Bread crumbs
Absorb moisture and help the mixture hold its shape.
Melted butter
Adds fat and richness, keeping the filling tender.
Raw egg
Binds the filling and helps the cracker dust coating adhere.
Cracker dust
Forms a crisp outer coating that browns when fried.

The step that matters

Coating the rolls in egg and cracker dust. If the egg coat is thin or uneven, the cracker dust will not stick and may fall off in the frying fat, leaving bare spots that can break open. Coat evenly and press gently so the crumbs form a continuous crust.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lobster, pepper, bread, butter, egg, parsley):

  1. Tarragonfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Capersfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against lobster, pepper, bread, butter, egg, parsley. 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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