Why it works: Lobster and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,050 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-one, which smells mushroom, metallic. The science ↓
Lobster Chops
Ingredients
Directions
Make the lobster base
In a stew pan, melt the butter until it bubbles, then stir in the flour.
Cook the mixture while stirring constantly, then gradually pour in the cream.
Add the diced lobster and stir until scalding hot.
Remove from heat, let cool slightly, then stir in the beaten egg yolks, grated nutmeg, salt, and pepper.
Return to heat and cook for 2 minutes, stirring continuously.
Butter a platter and spread the mixture to a depth of half an inch.
Shape and fry
Once cooled, shape the mixture into chop forms, pointed at one end.
Roll each chop in beaten egg, then in bread or cracker crumbs.
Fry in boiling fat for about 3 minutes until golden brown.
Drain well and insert a small claw into each chop to represent the bone.
Serve
Serve on a napkin, overlapping the chops, and garnish with parsley.
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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Lobster + creamtop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,050 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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Nutmeg + peppertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together13,015 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,623 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and butter 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
- Provides the main flavor and the bulk of the filling.
- Egg yolks
- Bind the mixture and set when heated, giving it body and richness.
- Flour
- Thickens the butter and cream into a stiff base that holds its shape.
- Cream
- Adds moisture and richness, making the base smooth and tender.
- Butter
- Adds fat and flavor to the roux that starts the base.
The step that matters
Cooling the base before shaping. The mixture must cool and firm enough to hold a chop shape; shaping it warm makes it slump, and the egg coating then has nothing stable to cling to.
Swap the nutmeg
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lobster, egg, cream, flour, butter, pepper):
- Nutmegthe original
- Tarragonfits about as well
- Parsleyfits less well
- Capersfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against lobster, egg, cream, flour, butter, pepper. 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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