Skip to main content
Main

Lobster Canapes

Lobster canapes are fried bread rounds topped with lobster slices, capers, and lobster butter, served on endive or lettuce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Capers and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,088 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Lobster Canapes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Prepare 12 fried rounds of bread and let them drain and cool.

  2. Cut small slices of the lobster.

  3. Soak the lobster slices in oil and vinegar for a few minutes.

Assemble and serve

  1. Spread the croutons with lobster butter.

  2. Place a slice of lobster on each crouton.

  3. Top each with a few capers.

  4. Serve on a bed of finely chopped light green endive or lettuce.

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. Capers + peppertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,088 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Butter + caperstop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,637 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Capers + vinegartop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,453 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Lobster + caperstop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together102 recipes

    Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).

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

What each ingredient does

Lobster butter
Adds rich fat and lobster flavour that coats the crouton surface.
Croutons
Provide a crisp, buttery base that holds the lobster topping.
Capers
Add a sharp, briny acidity that contrasts with the rich lobster.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the lobster slices.

The step that matters

Soak the lobster slices in oil and vinegar for a few minutes. Soaking only briefly lets the acid and oil season the surface without making the delicate lobster firm, cloudy or sour. Soaking too long can toughen the protein and overpower its sweet flavour.

Swap the capers

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, lobster, vinegar, pepper):

  1. Tarragonfits better
  2. Parsleyfits better
  3. Thymefits about as well
  4. Capersthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, lobster, vinegar, pepper. 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.

You might also like

Lobster SauceLobster Sauce174 recipesLobster CroquettesLobster Croquettes99 recipesLobster BallsLobster Balls7 recipesTomato SoupTomato Soup526 recipes