Why it works: Sauce and anchovy are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,057 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Lobster Loaf
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the lobster
Remove the flesh from the claws of the lobster without breaking it and set aside.
If there is any coral, set it aside as well.
Chop the flesh from the body of the lobster finely.
Make the loaf
In a saucepan, mix the butter and flour with a wooden spoon.
Add the milk and stir over heat until it boils and becomes smooth.
Stir in the anchovy, Worcestershire sauce, salt, lemon juice, and beaten eggs, mixing thoroughly.
Finally, add the chopped lobster flesh and mix well.
Pour the mixture into a buttered mold and steam gently for half an hour.
Make the sauce and serve
To make the sauce, mix 2 teaspoons cornflour and 1 teaspoon lemon juice, then boil.
Warm the lobster claws in the sauce, pour the sauce over the lobster loaf, and decorate with the claws and head.
Wash and dry the coral, pound it, rub it through a sieve, and sprinkle over the dish.
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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Sauce + anchovytop 2% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,057 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Lobster + anchovytop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together470 recipes
Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).
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Lobster + saucetop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,095 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Bind the mixture and set it into a firm, sliceable loaf when steamed.
- Flour
- Thickens the butter and milk into a smooth white base that holds the lobster.
- Butter
- Adds richness and carries flavour through the flour-thickened base.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base that the flour thickens into a smooth panada.
- Lobster
- Provides the main flavour and the tender flaked meat of the loaf.
The step that matters
Stir the milk mixture until smooth before adding the eggs. If the flour and milk are not cooked and stirred until boiling and smooth, lumps remain and the base thickens unevenly. Eggs added to a hot mixture also need thorough mixing so they do not scramble, which keeps the loaf smooth and evenly set when steamed.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lobster, butter, flour, egg, sauce, milk, anchovy):
- Lemonthe original
- Vanillafits about as well
- Raisinfits about as well
- Coconutfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against lobster, butter, flour, egg, sauce, milk, anchovy. 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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