Why it works: Lobster and truffle work together. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and 155 recipes mention both. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
The recipe
Ingredients
Contains: egg, milk, shellfish (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Directions
Prepare the lobster
Split the lobsters and remove the meat from the shells, cutting it into 1-inch pieces.
Make the sauce
In a saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter and add the lobster meat, salt, red pepper, and diced truffles.
Cook for 5 minutes, then add the Madeira wine and reduce by half, about 3 minutes.
In a bowl, combine the egg yolks and sweet cream, then add to the lobster mixture.
Gently stir for 2 minutes or until the mixture thickens.
Serve
Pour into a hot tureen and serve.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Lobster + truffletop 9% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together155 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Lobster + creamtop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together1,050 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Butter + creamtop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together41,494 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + truffletop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together2,209 recipes
Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
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Truffle + madeira winetop 5% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together195 recipes
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Lobsters
- Provides the main meat, which is cut into pieces and gently heated through in the sauce.
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the cream-based sauce as they gently set with heat.
- Sweet cream
- Adds richness and body, carrying the sauce's smooth texture.
- Madeira wine
- Adds sweetness and depth as it reduces, concentrating its flavour into the sauce.
- Truffles
- Add an earthy, aromatic flavour to the butter and lobster mixture.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness, helping the lobster and truffles cook in a silky base.
The step that matters
Adding the egg yolks and cream. Egg yolks thicken when heated, but if the mixture gets too hot or is stirred too hard, they can scramble and turn grainy. Stir gently over moderate heat until the sauce just thickens.
“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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