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Broiled Lobster

A lobster split in half, cleaned, brushed with butter or oil, and broiled until cooked.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 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 ↓

Broiled Lobster

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the lobster

  1. Split the lobster in half lengthwise to kill it.

  2. Remove the entrails from the tail and the stomach near the head.

Broil

  1. For the first method, remove the flesh from the tail, brush with melted butter or olive oil, and broil gently until just cooked.

  2. Heat the shell, return the meat to the shell, add more butter, salt, and pepper, and serve on hot plates.

  3. For the second method, brush butter over the entire lobster half, broil the shell side thoroughly, then turn and broil the other side.

  4. Serve with maitre d'hotel sauce if desired.

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. Butter + saucetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together15,338 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

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

  4. Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  5. Pepper + saucetop 27% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together15,303 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Butter and sauce 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
Provides the main protein, which firms and turns opaque as it cooks.
Butter
Adds moisture and richness, helping the lobster meat stay tender under heat.
Olive oil
Adds moisture and carries flavor, helping the lobster meat stay tender under heat.

The step that matters

Broil gently until just cooked. Lobster meat is delicate, and high or prolonged heat toughens its proteins and makes it rubbery. Stopping as soon as the flesh turns opaque keeps it tender and juicy.

“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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