Why it works: Lobster and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,050 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-one, which smells mushroom, metallic. The science ↓
Curried Lobster
Ingredients
Directions
Make the curry
Place the lobster meat in a shallow saucepan with the ham, cayenne pepper, and salt.
Mix the white soup and cream, then pour over the lobster meat.
Heat on the stove and let it simmer for about 1 hour.
Add the curry powder and flour mixed with a little of the pot liquid.
Cook for an additional 3 minutes until ready to serve.
Serve
Serve with a rim of well-boiled rice or separately.
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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Lobster + creamtop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,050 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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Pepper + ricetop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,379 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Meat + hamtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,095 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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Meat + ricetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,481 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Lobster + meattop 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
- Lobster
- Provides the main protein and sweet, delicate flavor of the dish.
- White soup
- Forms the creamy base of the sauce and adds body and savory flavor.
- Cream
- Adds richness and a smoother, silkier texture to the sauce.
- Curry powder
- Supplies the warm, aromatic spice flavor that defines the dish.
- Flour
- Thickens the sauce so it clings to the lobster rather than running thin.
The step that matters
Adding the curry powder and flour. Flour must be mixed smoothly with a little liquid before going into the pot, or it will clump. Cooking it briefly in the simmering sauce removes raw starch taste and lets the sauce thicken evenly.
“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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