Why it works: Anchovy and sauce 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 lobster claws 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 and steam the loaf
In a saucepan, mix the butter and flour with a wooden spoon, then add the milk and stir over heat until it boils and becomes smooth.
Add the anchovy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, salt, lemon juice, and beaten eggs, mixing thoroughly.
Finally, add the chopped lobster flesh and pour the mixture into a buttered mold.
Steam gently for half an hour.
Serve
To serve, turn out the loaf and pour over a sauce made from ½ pint of clear brown stock, pepper, salt, 2 teaspoons cornflour, and 1 teaspoon lemon juice, boiled together.
Warm the lobster claws in the sauce, pour it over the lobster loaf, and decorate with the claws and head.
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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Anchovy + saucetop 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
- Set and bind the mixture so the loaf holds its shape when turned out.
- Flour
- Thickens the butter and milk base so the mixture becomes smooth and firm.
- Butter
- Adds richness and carries flavour through the base.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base that the flour thickens and the eggs set.
- Lobster
- Provides the main flavour and the meaty texture of the loaf.
The step that matters
Steam gently. Eggs set into a smooth, tender loaf when heated slowly. A hard boil can make the mixture rough, porous, or cracked, so keep the water at a gentle simmer.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lobster, butter, flour, egg, milk, anchovy, sauce):
- Lemonthe original
- Vanillafits about as well
- Raisinfits about as well
- Coconutfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against lobster, butter, flour, egg, milk, anchovy, sauce. 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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