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Boiled Lobster

A lobster boiled, then filled with a butter‑flour‑milk sauce and baked.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Boiled Lobster

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the lobster

  1. Wash the lobster thoroughly and tie the claws together.

  2. Put the lobster in a kettle of boiling salted water and boil for 30 minutes.

  3. Remove the lobster, drain, and wipe it dry.

  4. Rub the shell with a little salad oil for a clear red color.

Make the sauce

  1. Melt the butter in a pan, add the flour, and cook for 2 minutes.

  2. Stir in the milk and cook until thick and smooth.

  3. Season with salt and pepper, then mix in the egg yolks and cream.

  4. Add the lobster meat and parsley, stirring for 2 minutes over heat.

Fill and bake

  1. Fill the lobster shells with the mixture, sprinkle with breadcrumbs, and add melted butter.

  2. Bake in a hot oven (400°F/200°C) for 10 minutes.

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

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

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

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

  3. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  4. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

  5. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Butter and flour 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 protein; boiling firms its meat so it holds shape in the sauce.
Butter
Adds richness and flavor, and browns the topping when baked.
Flour
Thickens the milk into a smooth white sauce that binds the filling.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the sauce, giving it body and a mild, creamy taste.
Egg yolks
Enrich and thicken the sauce, adding richness and smooth texture.
Cream
Adds fat and softness, making the filling silkier and more luxurious.

The step that matters

Cooking the sauce to thick and smooth before adding the yolks. Flour must cook long enough to lose its raw taste and thicken fully, and the sauce should be off the boil before the egg yolks go in, otherwise the yolks can scramble and turn the sauce grainy.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lobster, butter, flour, milk, pepper, egg, cream):

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Tarragonfits about as well
  3. Parsleythe original
  4. Capersfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against lobster, butter, flour, milk, pepper, egg, cream. 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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