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Lobster Fritters

A dish of lobster pieces coated in batter and fried, served with parsley.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Celery and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,193 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Lobster Fritters

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the lobster

  1. Boil the lobster in 2 quarts of boiling water with ½ cup salt for 25 minutes.

  2. Once cooled, remove the meat and fat, and cut into small slices.

Make the filling

  1. In a small saucepan, melt the butter with the flour over medium heat, stirring until it bubbles.

  2. Add the boiling cream and seasonings, and let it boil for 2 minutes.

  3. Stir in the egg yolks and lobster, then simmer for 4 minutes.

  4. Pour the mixture onto a greased dish and let it cool to firm up.

Fry and serve

  1. Cut into neat pieces, dip in batter, and fry in hot lard until golden.

  2. Fry a few branches of parsley in the lard for 15 seconds and serve on top of the fritters.

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. Celery + thymetop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,193 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Mushroom + thymetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,557 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  3. Lobster + creamtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,050 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  4. Mushroom + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,525 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  5. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

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

What each ingredient does

Lobster
Provides the main flavour and the meaty filling of the fritters.
Egg yolks
Thicken the cream mixture and help it set firm when cooled.
Cream
Adds richness and moisture to the filling, keeping it tender.
Butter
Adds fat and flavour to the roux that begins the filling.
Flour
Forms a roux with the butter that thickens the filling.
Mushrooms
Add earthy flavour and moisture to the filling.

The step that matters

Let the filling cool fully before cutting and frying. Egg yolks and flour set as the mixture cools, so a warm filling stays soft and falls apart when cut or dipped in batter.

Swap the celery

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lobster, mushroom, egg, cream, butter, flour, thyme):

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Tarragonfits better
  3. Parsleyfits better
  4. Celerythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against lobster, mushroom, egg, cream, butter, flour, thyme. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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