Why it works: Anchovy and sauce are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,057 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Lobster Patties
Ingredients
Directions
Make the filling
Cut the lobster meat into small pieces.
Place the pieces in a saucepan with water or fish stock and bring the mixture to a boil.
Season with pepper and salt.
Add anchovy sauce or pounded lobster coral if available.
Thicken the mixture with cornflour.
Serve
Spoon the mixture into patty cases.
Serve hot.
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.
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Anchovy + saucetop 2% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,057 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
-
Lobster + anchovytop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together470 recipes
Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).
-
Lobster + saucetop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,095 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
-
Fish + anchovytop 9% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together637 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Meat + fishtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together479 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Lobster meat
- Provides the main flavour and the bulk of the filling.
- Cornflour
- Thickens the cooking liquid so the filling holds its shape in the patty cases.
- Water or fish stock
- Forms the moist cooking liquid that gently cooks the lobster and carries the seasoning.
The step that matters
Thicken the mixture with cornflour. Cornflour needs to come to a boil in the liquid to swell and thicken fully. If the filling is too thin, it will not hold together in the patty cases.
“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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