Name: Lobster a LA Wilcox
Ingredients: 2 tablespoons butter; 1 lobster, cooked and chopped; Juice of 1 lemon; Coarse sea salt to taste; Saltines for serving

Why it works: Butter and lemon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,227 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓

Lobster a LA Wilcox

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.

Melt the butter in a chafing dish.
Add the lobster and cover the dish.
Cook for 10 minutes.
Add seasoning and lemon juice.
Serve with saltines.

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.

Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,227 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Butter + lobstertop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,609 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
Lobster + lemontop 29% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,100 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

Butter: Adds richness and carries the flavour of the lobster through the dish.
Lobster: Provides the main protein and sweet, delicate flavour of the dish.
Lemon juice: Adds acidity that brightens the rich butter and sweet lobster.