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Lobster Pie

A savory pie made with boiled lobster, butter, egg yolks, and puff pastry.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Lobster and anchovy work together. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 470 recipes. Both carry octanal, which smells fat, soap. The science ↓

Lobster Pie

Oven, in the book's wordsA slow oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the lobster

  1. Boil the lobsters and remove the meat from the tails, cutting it into pieces.

  2. Remove the spawn and meat from the claws, then beat it in a mortar.

  3. Season the lobster meat with pepper, salt, vinegar, and anchovy liquor.

Make the filling

  1. Melt the butter and mix it with the lobster mixture, adding the roll crumbs and egg yolks.

Assemble and bake

  1. Place the lobster tails in a dish, cover with the remaining lobster meat, and top with puff pastry.

  2. Cover with a lid and bake in a slow oven at 300°F (150°C) until cooked through.

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 + anchovytop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together470 recipes

    Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).

  2. Anchovy + eggtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,330 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  3. Anchovy + buttertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,697 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Pepper + vinegartop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

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

  5. Pepper + anchovytop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,232 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
Provide the main meat, giving the pie its flavour and substance.
Egg yolks
Bind the filling and add richness and a set structure when baked.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, carrying flavour and keeping the filling moist.
Roll crumbs
Absorb liquid and help thicken the filling so it holds together.
Anchovy liquor
Adds savoury depth to the lobster seasoning.

The step that matters

Bake until cooked through, not overcooked. Egg yolks set as they heat, so a slow oven and careful timing keep the filling smooth and custard-like rather than curdled or rubbery.

“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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