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Lobster Croquettes

A fried dish of lobster, crackers, onion, butter, eggs, and spices formed into cakes and coated in cornmeal.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Lobster Croquettes

Why it works: Bread and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Lobster Croquettes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Drain and chop the lobsters.

Make the mixture

  1. In a bowl, combine the lobsters, crackers, onion, butter, eggs, black pepper, and salt.

Shape and coat

  1. Form the mixture into cakes like sausage patties.

  2. Coat each cake in cornmeal.

Fry

  1. Fry in hot oil until golden 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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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

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

  2. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  4. Onion + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together42,912 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Bread + oniontop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,676 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

What each ingredient does

Lobsters
Provide the main flavour and the bulk of the filling.
Crackers or bread crumbs
Absorb moisture and bind the mixture so the cakes hold their shape.
Eggs
Bind the mixture together and help the cakes hold their shape.
Onion
Adds aroma and savoury sweetness to the filling.
Butter
Adds fat and richness to the filling.
Cornmeal
Forms a crisp, golden coating when fried.

The step that matters

Fry in hot oil until golden brown. If the oil is not hot enough, the cakes absorb excess oil and turn greasy, while the coating may not brown properly. Oil that is hot enough sets the crust quickly, helping the cakes keep their shape and stay crisp.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lobster, bread, butter, egg, pepper):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Asparagusfits better
  3. Spinachfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against lobster, bread, butter, egg, pepper. 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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