Skip to main content
Main

Stewed Lobster

A lobster stew with butter, pepper, salt, green dressing, and port or sherry.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Butter and sherry are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,505 recipes. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity, wine. The science ↓

Stewed Lobster

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut the lobster into pieces about an inch square.

  2. Place the lobster pieces in a stew pan and pour in the water.

  3. Add the butter, pepper, and coarse sea salt.

  4. Mix in the green dressing of the lobster.

Cook

  1. Stir over medium heat for about 10 minutes.

  2. Just before removing from heat, add the port or sherry and let it scald, but do not boil.

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. Butter + sherrytop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,505 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  2. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  3. Lobster + buttertop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,609 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).

  4. Pepper + sherrytop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,107 recipes

    Shared aroma: piperonal (bitter, coconut).

  5. Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

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, which firms as it cooks and gives the stew its body.
Butter
Adds richness and a silky mouthfeel to the cooking liquid.
Green dressing of the lobster
Adds concentrated, rich seafood flavor and thickens the liquid slightly.
Port or sherry
Adds sweetness, acidity, and aromatic depth to the finished stew.

The step that matters

Add the port or sherry just before removing from heat. Adding it late and only scalding keeps its aromas bright. Boiling drives off the alcohol and can make the wine taste harsh and flat.

“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.

You might also like

Lobster SauceLobster Sauce174 recipesLobster CroquettesLobster Croquettes99 recipesLobster BallsLobster Balls7 recipesTomato SoupTomato Soup526 recipes