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Lobster Bisoue

A lobster broth made with shells, butter, fish bones, stock, shallot, herbs, mace, cream, egg yolks, and lemon juice.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Lobster and whiting work together. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 73 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Lobster Bisoue

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Make the bisou

  1. Pound the lobster shells and small legs finely in a mortar with the butter.

  2. Add this mixture to a pot with the fish bones, stock, shallot, herbs, and mace.

  3. Simmer for 30 minutes, then strain the mixture.

Finish and serve

  1. Return the liquid to the pot, add cream, and heat gently.

  2. Whisk in the egg yolks and lemon juice just before serving.

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. Lobster + whitingtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together73 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Shallot + lemontop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,523 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Lobster + creamtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,050 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  4. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  5. Whiting + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together135 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Lobster shells
Release their flavour and colour into the butter and stock, giving the bisque its base taste.
Butter
Carries the crushed shell flavour and adds richness and mouthfeel to the broth.
Cream
Adds body and a smooth, rounded texture to the finished soup.
Egg yolks
Thicken the soup gently and add richness when heated carefully.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the rich shellfish flavour.

The step that matters

Whisk in the egg yolks and lemon juice just before serving. Egg yolks thicken by setting at around 70°C, so if the soup boils after they are added, they can scramble and turn grainy. Keep the heat gentle and stir constantly.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lobster, butter, whiting, shallot, cream, egg, lemon):

  1. Capersfits better
  2. Parsleyfits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against lobster, butter, whiting, shallot, cream, egg, lemon. 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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