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 ↓
Lobster Croquettes
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
In a bowl, mix the lobster, salt, cayenne, and cream sauce.
Shape the mixture into croquettes.
Coat and fry
Roll each croquette in the beaten egg, then in cracker crumbs.
Heat lard in a pan and fry the croquettes until golden brown.
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.
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Lobster + saucetop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,095 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Lobster + creamtop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,050 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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Cream + saucetop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,787 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Pepper + creamtop 23% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together21,449 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
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Cream + eggtop 24% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together42,166 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Pepper and cream barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 21,449 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 flavour and the bulk of the filling.
- Cream sauce
- Binds the lobster into a mixture that holds its shape when formed.
- Beaten egg
- Sticks the cracker crumbs to the outside and helps form a crisp coating.
- Cracker crumbs
- Form a crisp, browned outer crust when fried.
The step that matters
Frying the coated croquettes. Shaped croquettes can fall apart or absorb grease if the lard is not hot enough or they are overcrowded. Hot fat sets the egg and crumb coating quickly, forming a crisp crust that seals in the moist filling.
“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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