Name: Fricassees of Lobster and Mushrooms
Ingredients: ½ pound mushrooms; ½ cup butter; ⅓ cup flour; 1½ cups cream; meat of a 2 pound lobster, diced; salt to taste; pepper to taste; paprika to taste; 1 tablespoon sherry

Why it works: Mushroom and sherry are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,176 recipes. Both carry 2-methoxy-4-methylphenol, which smells smoky, clove. The science ↓

Fricassees of Lobster and Mushrooms

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the mushrooms in butter for five minutes. Season with a few drops of onion juice.
Add flour and cream, stirring to combine.
Fold in the diced lobster meat. Season with salt, pepper, and paprika.
Stir in sherry and serve.

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.

Mushroom + sherrytop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,176 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-methylphenol (smoky, clove).
Cream + lobstertop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,050 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Mushroom + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together12,525 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,516 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Mushroom + peppertop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together13,580 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Mushrooms: Provide earthy flavour and bulk, softening as they cook in butter.
Butter: Adds richness and carries flavour while cooking the mushrooms.
Flour: Thickens the cream into a smooth, cohesive sauce.
Cream: Forms the body of the sauce and adds richness and moisture.
Lobster meat: Supplies the main seafood flavour and tender texture.

The step that matters

Adding the flour and cream. Stir the flour and cream together well so the flour dissolves evenly; lumps form when flour is not fully dispersed, leaving a grainy sauce instead of a smooth one.

“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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Meat Croquettes52 recipes

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Fricassees of Lobster and Mushrooms