Why it works: Lobster and sauce are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,095 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Devilled Lobster
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Cook the lobster
Boil the lobster for 20 to 40 minutes until cooked, then remove the meat and cut it into small dice.
Make the filling
Pound the coral with mustard, butter, and other flavorings in a mortar.
In a saucepan, heat the white sauce and add the pounded coral mixture.
Stir in the lobster meat and heat until smoking.
Bake and serve
Fill buttered fire-proof shells with the mixture and sprinkle with bread crumbs.
Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven for a few minutes or brown with a salamander.
Serve on a dish garnished with fresh parsley.
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 + saucetop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,095 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Mustard + saucetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,120 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Butter + saucetop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together15,338 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Mustard + breadtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,484 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
Butter and sauce barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 15,338 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
- Lobster
- Provides the main sweet, tender meat that forms the body of the dish.
- White sauce
- Adds moisture and a creamy binding that holds the filling together.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat, carrying flavor and helping the filling feel smooth.
- Bread crumbs
- Forms a topping that browns and crisps in the oven or under a salamander.
- Mustard
- Adds sharp, pungent flavor that cuts through the richness of the butter and sauce.
- Chutney
- Adds sweetness and acidity that balance the savory lobster and sauce.
The step that matters
Boil the lobster for 20 to 40 minutes until cooked. Seafood proteins tighten and turn rubbery when overheated, so boiling too long makes the lobster meat tough and dry. Stopping once the meat is just cooked keeps it tender for the later heating.
Swap the mustard
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lobster, butter, sauce, bread):
- Shallotfits about as well
- Mustardthe original
- Tomatofits about as well
- Capsicumfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against lobster, butter, sauce, bread. 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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