Why it works: Mace and nutmeg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,557 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓
Potted Lobsters
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the lobster
Remove the flesh from freshly boiled lobsters and mince it with a sharp knife.
Transfer the minced lobster to a large bowl and add a seasoning mix of cayenne, mace, nutmeg, and salt, using salt sparingly.
Pound the lobster with 2 to 3 ounces of firm butter for large lobsters, or less for smaller ones.
If using, rub the lobster coral through a sieve and add it to the mixture.
Chop and pound fresh brown shrimps with the lobster if desired.
Make the stew
Stew the red skin of the lobster tails in part of the butter for 10 to 12 minutes.
Strain the stew.
Cool the stew before mixing with the lobster.
Mix the cooled stew with the lobster mixture.
Pot and chill
Adjust seasoning to taste, ensuring the lobster flavor remains dominant.
Chill the mixture in a cool place or over ice to firm it up before pressing into pots or molds.
Press the mixture into a compact mass in the pots, smooth the surface, and cover with a little clarified butter.
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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Mace + nutmegtop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,557 recipes
Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
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Lobster + shrimptop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together403 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
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Butter + shrimptop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,931 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
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Nutmeg + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together24,377 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Lobster + buttertop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,609 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Lobster
- Provides the main flavour and the bulk of the meaty texture.
- Firm butter
- Binds the pounded lobster and adds richness and a smooth, spreadable texture.
- Lobster-coral
- Adds colour and a rich, concentrated seafood flavour to the mixture.
- Red skin of lobster tails
- Stewed in butter to give the mixture a deeper lobster flavour and colour.
The step that matters
Adjust seasoning with restraint. Salt and spices are easy to overdo, and they can mask the delicate lobster flavour. Tasting after the stew is mixed in lets the cook keep the lobster dominant, since chilling firms the mixture and slightly dulls perceived seasoning.
Swap the mace
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lobster, nutmeg, butter, shrimp):
- Capersfits better
- Cinnamonfits better
- Parsleyfits better
- Macethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against lobster, nutmeg, butter, shrimp. 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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