Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
15 Pepper-Pot
Ingredients
Directions
Make the base
Combine milk, water, red pepper, and salt in a stewpan and bring to a boil.
Add the lobster and the green inside if desired, along with the butter.
Cook and serve
Boil for 10 minutes.
Serve hot.
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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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Lobster + buttertop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,609 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
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Pepper + buttertop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together85,593 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Milk + peppertop 22% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together26,984 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
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Milk + lobstertop 27% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together489 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Milk
- Provides the creamy body and mild sweetness of the broth.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a silky mouthfeel to the liquid.
- Lobster
- Supplies the main sweet, savoury seafood flavour and tender meat.
- Red pepper
- Adds gentle heat and a sharp, aromatic note to the broth.
The step that matters
Bringing the milk to a boil. Milk proteins can scorch on the bottom of the pan and boil over quickly at high heat. Watch the pot closely as it heats, and keep the heat controlled once it starts to bubble.
“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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