Name: Lobsters or Shrimps En Coquille
Ingredients: lobsters; Bechamel sauce or cream sauce; bread crumbs; shrimps

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 ↓

Lobsters or Shrimps En Coquille

Ingredients

lobsters
Bechamel sauce or cream sauce
bread crumbs
shrimps

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Cut the lobsters into scallops or pieces.
Mix the lobsters with the Bechamel or cream sauce.
Sprinkle bread crumbs over the mixture.
Brown slightly in a 350°F (175°C) oven.
For the shrimps, mix some with the sauce and reserve some whole for decoration.

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.

Lobster + saucetop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,095 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Lobster + shrimptop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together403 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
Sauce + shrimptop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,423 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Bread + shrimptop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together360 recipes

Shared aroma: hexanol (green, fruity).
Lobster + breadtop 20% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together736 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).