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Lobster Salad

A salad of lobster, lettuce, beetroot, olives, gherkins, anchovies, capers, dressed with French and mayonnaise‑aspic dressing.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Lettuce and beetroot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 678 recipes. Both carry 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells green bell pepper, earthy. The science ↓

Lobster Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the lobster

  1. Boil the lobster until cooked, then let it cool.

  2. Remove the shell and set aside the best parts of the meat for decoration.

  3. Wash, dry, pound, and sieve the coral from the lobster.

Prepare the salad

  1. Wash, drain, and shred the lettuce.

  2. Cut the beetroot into neat pieces.

  3. In a bowl, combine the chopped beetroot, remaining lobster, olives, gherkins, and capers.

  4. Toss the mixture with French dressing and pile it in a salad dish.

Finish and decorate

  1. Mix the mayonnaise with twice its volume of aspic jelly.

  2. Pour the mixture over the salad as it begins to thicken.

  3. Decorate with strips of gherkin, olives, lettuce, lobster coral, and the best parts of the lobster.

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. Lettuce + beetroottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together678 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

  2. Beetroot + caperstop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together231 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Lettuce + caperstop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together372 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Olive + caperstop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,688 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Lettuce + olivetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,580 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

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 protein and the rich coral used for colour and flavour.
Lettuce
Forms the crisp base and adds fresh, cool texture beneath the salad.
Mayonnaise
Adds fat and creaminess, giving the aspic-set topping a smooth, rich body.
Aspic jelly (in the method)
Sets as it cools, binding the topping and giving the salad a glossy, firm coating.
Anchovies
Contributes a salty, savoury depth that balances the sweetness of the beetroot.

The step that matters

Pour the mayonnaise and aspic mixture as it begins to thicken. Aspic is gelatine-based and sets as it cools. Pouring it too early lets it run off the salad, while pouring it after it has set firmly prevents an even, smooth coating.

Swap the beetroot

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lobster, lettuce, egg, olive, capers):

  1. Mustardfits about as well
  2. Beetrootthe original
  3. Shallotfits about as well
  4. Chivefits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against lobster, lettuce, egg, olive, capers. 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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