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Bisque of Lobster

A creamy lobster bisque made with lobster, butter, eggs, rice, stock, and cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Celery and carrot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,173 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓

Bisque of Lobster

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the lobster paste

  1. Chop the lobsters, shells included.

  2. Place the chopped lobsters in a mortar with butter, eggs, and rice.

  3. Pound the mixture to a paste.

  4. Moisten the paste with a little water or stock.

Make the soup base

  1. Fry the bacon fat.

  2. Add onion, celery tops, red pepper, carrot, and stock.

  3. Boil slowly for 2 hours.

  4. Strain the mixture.

  5. Rub the ingredients through a sieve.

  6. Return to the soup.

Finish and serve

  1. Keep warm without boiling.

  2. If the soup is too thick, add more stock.

  3. Season with salt.

  4. Boil the cream and whisk it into the soup.

  5. Adjust seasoning.

  6. Serve in a hot soup tureen.

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. Celery + carrottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,173 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  2. Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

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

  3. Pepper + carrottop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,555 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Onion + carrottop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Rice + carrottop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,477 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

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

What each ingredient does

Lobsters
Provide the main shellfish flavor, with the shells adding depth to the stock.
Eggs
Bind the lobster paste so it holds together and sets when heated.
Butter
Adds richness and a smooth, rounded mouthfeel to the paste.
Cooked rice
Adds starch and body to the paste, helping to thicken the soup.
Cream
Adds richness and a silky texture to the finished soup.
Stock
Forms the liquid base that carries the flavors and sets the soup's consistency.

The step that matters

Keep warm without boiling. Once the cream is whisked in, boiling can cause dairy to separate and turn grainy. Holding the soup just below a boil keeps it smooth and evenly textured.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lobster, butter, egg, rice, celery, pepper, carrot):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Potatofits better
  3. Asparagusfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against lobster, butter, egg, rice, celery, pepper, carrot. 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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