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Lobster Chops

A fried lobster dish coated in breadcrumbs, served as chops.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,062 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Lobster Chops

Ingredients

Directions

Make the lobster mixture

  1. Heat the butter in a small saucepan.

  2. Add the flour and cook for 1 minute.

  3. Stir in the milk or cream and cook for 10 minutes.

  4. Add the egg yolks, lobster, parsley, nutmeg, salt, and paprika. Mix well.

  5. Allow the mixture to cool.

Shape and fry

  1. Shape into chops with small claws as bones.

  2. Dip each chop in the beaten egg whites.

  3. Coat with bread crumbs.

  4. Fry in deep fat until golden brown.

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. Parsley + nutmegtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,062 recipes

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

  2. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

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

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

  4. Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,623 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Milk + breadtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,466 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Butter
Enriches the sauce base and adds richness and flavor.
Flour
Thickens the milk or cream into a binding white sauce.
Milk or cream
Forms the liquid base that, once thickened, holds the lobster together.
Egg yolks
Add richness and help set the mixture as it binds with the sauce.
Chopped lobster
Provides the main flavor and filling of the chops.
Egg whites
Form a coating that helps bread crumbs adhere to the chops.

The step that matters

Allow the mixture to cool. A warm, loose mixture will not hold its shape when shaped into chops. Cooling lets the thickened sauce firm up so the chops keep their form through dipping and frying.

Swap the parsley

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, flour, milk, egg, lobster, nutmeg, bread. 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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