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Stewed Lobster

A lobster stew made with butter, wine or vinegar, nutmeg, mace, cayenne, salt, and topped with bread crumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Nutmeg and mace are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,557 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓

Stewed Lobster

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the lobster

  1. Remove the meat from the boiled lobster shell and cut it into very small pieces.

  2. Season the lobster meat with nutmeg, mace, cayenne, and salt.

  3. Mix in the butter and white wine or vinegar.

Stew and serve

  1. Place the mixture in a stew pan over hot coals and cover it tightly.

  2. Stew for about 20 minutes to retain the flavor.

  3. Serve hot, optionally in the cleaned shell, topped with bread crumbs and browned under a salamander or hot shovel.

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. Nutmeg + macetop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,557 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  2. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

  3. Nutmeg + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

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

  4. Butter + white winetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,083 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  5. Nutmeg + breadtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,997 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

What each ingredient does

Lobster
Provides the main protein, which becomes tender and flavorful as it stews gently in the pan.
Fresh butter
Adds richness and moisture, carrying flavor through the lobster and keeping it from drying out.
White wine or vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the flavor and balances the richness of the butter.
Bread crumbs
Forms a topping that browns under heat, adding a crisp, golden finish.

The step that matters

Covering the pan and stewing gently. Keeping the lid on traps steam so the lobster cooks evenly and stays moist, while gentle heat prevents the proteins from toughening and the butter from separating.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lobster, butter, white wine, nutmeg, pepper, bread):

  1. Parsleyfits better
  2. Tarragonfits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against lobster, butter, white wine, nutmeg, pepper, bread. 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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