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Lobster Chops

A fried lobster dish with a creamy sauce, coated in egg and breadcrumbs, served as shaped chops.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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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

  1. In a stew-pan, melt the butter until it bubbles.

  2. Stir in the flour and cook while stirring until smooth.

  3. Gradually pour in the cream.

  4. Add the diced lobster.

  5. Stir until scalding hot.

  6. Remove from heat.

  7. Allow to cool slightly.

  8. Mix in the beaten egg yolks, nutmeg, salt, and pepper.

  9. Return to heat.

  10. Cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly.

Shape and coat

  1. Butter a platter.

  2. Spread the mixture to ½ inch thick.

  3. Shape into chop forms, pointed at one end, once cooled.

  4. Roll each chop in beaten egg.

  5. Roll each chop in bread or cracker crumbs.

Fry and serve

  1. Fry in boiling oil for about 3 minutes until golden brown.

  2. Drain well.

  3. Insert a small claw into each chop to resemble a bone.

  4. Serve on a napkin, overlapping the chops.

  5. Garnish with parsley.

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

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

  2. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

  3. Nutmeg + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

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

  4. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

  5. Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,623 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Boiled lobster
Provides the main flavor and the bulk of the chop filling.
Egg yolks
Bind the cooked mixture and help it set firm when cooled.
Cream or milk
Adds moisture and richness, giving the base a smooth, soft texture.
Flour
Thickens the cream into a stiff base that holds the chop shape.
Butter
Adds fat and flavor to the roux that starts the base.
Bread or cracker crumbs
Form a crisp, golden coating that browns during frying.

The step that matters

Let the mixture cool and firm before shaping. The base must be cool enough to hold its shape, otherwise it stays soft and slumps when rolled and fried. Cooking it briefly after adding the egg yolks also helps the eggs thicken and bind it, so the chops hold together in hot oil.

“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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