Why it works: Lobster and parsley work together. They rank in the top 24% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 890 recipes. Both carry octanal, which smells fat, soap. The science ↓
Boiled Lobster
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Cook the lobster
If using a live lobster, boil it in salted water for about 10-12 minutes until bright red.
Remove the lobster and let it cool.
Prepare and serve
Crack the claws and cut open the body.
Arrange the lobster on a napkin-covered dish.
Garnish with sprigs of parsley.
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 + parsleytop 24% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together890 recipes
Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Lobster
- Provides the main meat; its firm texture comes from proteins that set when cooked.
The step that matters
Timing the boil. Lobster meat turns tough and rubbery when overcooked, because its proteins tighten with prolonged heat. Pull it once the shell is bright red and the meat is just cooked through.
“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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