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Lobster Pie

A savory pie with lobster, gravy, and pastry.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Mace and nutmeg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,557 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓

Lobster Pie

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the lobster

  1. Boil the lobsters in salted water until half cooked.

  2. Remove the meat from the shells.

  3. Cut the meat into small pieces and place it in a pie dish.

  4. Break the shells.

Make the gravy

  1. Simmer them in a little water with mace and nutmeg.

  2. Strain the liquid.

  3. Beat the coral in a mortar, then thicken the liquid with it.

  4. Pour the thickened liquid over the lobster in the dish to create the gravy.

  5. Season with cayenne, salt, and mushroom ketchup.

  6. Add bits of butter.

Finish and serve

  1. Make a pastry lid with 10 ounces of butter and 1 pound of flour.

  2. Notch and decorate it with pastry leaves.

  3. Do not serve until the pie has cooled.

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. Mace + nutmegtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,557 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  2. Butter + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,525 recipes

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

  3. Nutmeg + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Nutmeg + flourtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,623 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Lobster + ketchuptop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together48 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Lobsters
Form the main filling and provide the pie's rich seafood flavour.
Coral (in the method)
Thickens the liquid and adds a rich, savoury flavour to the gravy.
Butter
Adds richness and fat to the gravy and pastry, giving a tender texture.
Flour
Forms the structure of the pastry lid as it bakes.
Mushroom ketchup
Adds savoury depth and umami to the seasoned gravy.

The step that matters

Thickening the gravy with coral. The coral must be beaten smooth and mixed into the strained liquid so it thickens evenly. Lumps or uneven mixing leave the gravy patchy and grainy rather than smooth.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lobster, nutmeg, butter, pepper, mushroom, ketchup, flour):

  1. Parsleyfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Marjoramfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against lobster, nutmeg, butter, pepper, mushroom, ketchup, flour. 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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