Why it works: Mustard and lettuce match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,356 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Lobster Salad
Ingredients
Directions
Cut the lobster into small pieces.
Mash the coral with the yolks of the hard-boiled eggs, then season with salt and cayenne pepper.
Add the French mustard to the mixture.
Make a dressing by stirring the beaten yolks of the raw eggs thick with salad oil and vinegar.
Pour the dressing over the mixed lobster meat and coral.
Serve on lettuce leaves.
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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Mustard + lettucetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,356 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,430 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Pepper + lettucetop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,037 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Mustard + lobstertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together394 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
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Lobster + lettucetop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together411 recipes
Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the lettuce
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, mustard, pepper, lobster):
- Horseradishfits better
- Lettucethe original
- Spinachfits about as well
- Capsicumfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, mustard, pepper, lobster. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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