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Scalloped Lobster

A baked lobster dish topped with bread crumbs and white sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Lobster and sauce are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,095 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Scalloped Lobster

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Prepare the lobster as directed in a previous recipe.

  2. Make a pint of white sauce.

Assemble

  1. Butter a deep baking dish generously.

  2. Add a half-inch layer of bread crumbs to the bottom and sides of the dish.

  3. Layer the lobster and bread crumbs alternately.

  4. Season each layer with salt and pepper.

  5. Fill the dish with white sauce.

  6. Add the final layer of bread crumbs.

  7. Top with bread crumbs.

  8. Dust with salt and pepper.

Bake and serve

  1. Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven until the crumbs are brown.

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. Lobster + saucetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,095 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

  3. Sauce + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together15,338 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Bread + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,964 recipes

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

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

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

Sauce and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 15,338 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Lobster
Forms the main body of the dish and supplies its rich, savoury flavour.
White sauce
Provides moisture and binds the layers so the dish stays creamy when baked.
Bread crumbs
Absorb the sauce and, as they brown in the oven, add a crisp, golden topping.

The step that matters

Bake until the crumbs are brown. The top should brown without drying the filling. Browning comes from the Maillard reaction in the crumbs and butter, so the dish needs enough heat and time to colour, but over-baking can dry the sauce and toughen the lobster.

“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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