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Lobster Soup

A veal-based soup with lobster meat, shell stock, and wine, finished with butter and flour.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Carrot and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,555 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Lobster Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Make the broth

  1. Combine the shin of veal, carrots, onions, pepper, salt, mace, and water in a large pot.

  2. Boil for 3 to 4 hours.

  3. In a separate saucepan, add the broken lobster shell and enough water to cover it.

  4. Simmer while the soup is boiling.

  5. Strain the lobster shell mixture and return the liquid to the soup pot.

Finish the soup

  1. Finely chop the lobster meat and add it to the soup.

  2. Boil for an additional 2 hours.

  3. If available, grate the lobster coral and add it to the soup for enhanced appearance.

  4. In a small bowl, mix the butter and flour until smooth.

  5. Stir this mixture into the soup.

  6. Add the white wine and vinegar or lemon juice to the soup, stirring well.

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. Carrot + peppertop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,555 recipes

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

  2. Carrot + oniontop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 recipes

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

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

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

  4. Lobster + meattop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together909 recipes

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

  5. Carrot + macetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,592 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

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

What each ingredient does

Veal shin
Releases gelatin and savory flavor into the broth over a long simmer, giving body.
Lobster
Adds the main sweet, briny seafood flavor to the soup.
Butter and flour
Flour thickens the soup and butter adds richness and a smooth mouthfeel.
White wine
Adds acidity and aromatic depth to the broth.
Vinegar or lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the flavor of the soup.

The step that matters

Straining the lobster shell mixture. Lobster shell broth should be strained fully so fine shell fragments do not remain in the soup, which would make it gritty and unpleasant to eat.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, carrot, onion, pepper, lobster, meat, butter):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, carrot, onion, pepper, lobster, meat, butter. 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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