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Lobster a LA TAmericaine

Lobster cooked with olive oil or butter, tomatoes, herbs, and white wine.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Olive and tomato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,539 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓

Lobster a LA TAmericaine

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the lobster

  1. Wash the lobsters well, cut off the claws, and divide each lobster in half, cracking the shells.

  2. Cut the tails into four pieces and divide the head lengthwise.

  3. Season the lobster pieces with salt and pepper, then fry them in hot olive oil or butter until cooked evenly on all sides.

  4. Remove the lobster from the pan and keep it warm.

Make the sauce

  1. Decant the oil and add butter to the pan.

  2. Cook the chopped onion in the butter until softened, then add the shallots.

  3. After a moment, add the chopped tomatoes, parsley, herbs, and garlic if using.

Finish

  1. Lay the lobster on top of the mixture and moisten with 1 cup of white wine.

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. Olive + tomatotop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,539 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  2. Shallot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,737 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

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

  4. Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  5. Shallot + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,677 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

What each ingredient does

Lobsters
Provides the main protein; its shell and meat give the dish its body and sweet flavor.
Tomatoes
Add acidity and moisture, forming the body of the sauce as they break down.
Shallots
Add a mild, sweet onion flavor that deepens as they soften in butter.
Olive oil or butter
Conducts heat for frying and carries flavor; butter adds richness and browning.
White wine (in the method)
Adds acidity and moisture, loosening the sauce around the lobster.
Onion
Softens in butter to add a sweet, aromatic base to the sauce.

The step that matters

Frying the lobster pieces in hot fat. Lobster meat turns firm and rubbery when overcooked, so the pieces should be cooked just until they are evenly done on all sides before being removed and kept warm.

Swap the clove

The recipe marks clove as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lobster, pepper, olive, onion, shallot, tomato, parsley):

  1. Capersfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Garlicfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against lobster, pepper, olive, onion, shallot, tomato, parsley. 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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