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Boiled Lobster

A lobster boiled, then baked with a butter‑flour‑milk sauce and seasonings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Boiled Lobster

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Boil the lobster

  1. Wash the lobster thoroughly and tie the claws together.

  2. Put the lobster in a kettle of boiling water with salt and boil for 30 minutes.

  3. Remove the lobster, drain, and wipe it dry.

  4. Rub the shell with a little salad oil for a clear red color.

  5. Split the cooked lobster in half, remove the meat, and crack the claws without destroying their shape.

Make the filling

  1. Melt the butter in a pan, add flour, stir, and cook for 2 minutes.

  2. Add milk, stir, and cook until thick and smooth.

  3. Season with salt and pepper, then mix in the egg yolks and cream.

  4. Add the lobster meat and parsley, stir for 2 minutes over heat.

Bake and serve

  1. Fill the lobster shells with the mixture, sprinkle with bread crumbs, and add melted butter.

  2. Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven for 10 minutes.

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. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  2. Lobster + creamtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,050 recipes

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

  3. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  4. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

  5. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
Forms the main protein and the shell that holds the filling.
Butter
Adds richness and flavor to the sauce and browns the crumb topping.
Flour
Thickens the butter and milk into a smooth, stable sauce.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the sauce, giving it body and a creamy texture.
Egg yolks
Enrich the sauce and help it set to a custard-like texture when heated.
Cream
Adds fat and smoothness, making the filling richer and silkier.

The step that matters

Cook the sauce until thick and smooth. Flour must be cooked in the butter and stirred into the hot milk so its starch swells evenly; undercooked flour leaves a raw taste and lumps. Egg yolks should be mixed in off the heat or gently, since high heat can scramble them.

Swap the parsley

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

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Tarragonfits about as well
  3. Parsleythe original
  4. Capersfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against lobster, butter, flour, milk, pepper, egg, cream. 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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