Why it works: Lobster and lettuce work together. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 411 recipes. Both carry octanal, which smells fat, soap. The science ↓
Lobster Salad
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the lobster
Cut the lobster meat into one-inch pieces.
Marinate the lobster pieces in French dressing for one hour.
Keep the marinated lobster in a cold place, then drain it.
Assemble and garnish
Mix the lobster with a little mayonnaise.
Place the mixture on a flat dish surrounded by lettuce leaves.
Smooth the mixture, leaving it high in the center.
Cover the top thickly with mayonnaise.
Insert the heart of the lettuce into the top and sprinkle with powdered coral.
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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Lobster + lettucetop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together411 recipes
Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Lobster
- Provides the main meaty texture and flavour of the salad.
- French dressing
- Marinates the lobster, adding acidity and seasoning to the meat.
- Mayonnaise
- Adds fat and moisture, binding the lobster and coating the top.
- Lettuce leaves
- Provide a crisp, fresh base and contrast to the rich lobster.
- Powdered coral of the lobster
- Adds concentrated lobster flavour and a red colour to the garnish.
The step that matters
Drain the marinated lobster well. Excess French dressing and liquid left on the lobster would thin the mayonnaise and make the salad watery and soggy on the dish.
“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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