Name: Lobster Curry
Ingredients: 1 tin of lobster; 2 cups curry sauce; boiled rice; sliced lemon

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 ↓

Lobster Curry

Ingredients

1 tin of lobster
2 cups curry sauce
boiled rice
sliced lemon

Directions

Prepare

Thoroughly drain the lobster and cut it into small, neat pieces.
Prepare the curry sauce as directed.

Cook and serve

Add the lobster to the sauce and heat thoroughly.
Serve with boiled rice and sliced lemon.

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.

Lobster + saucetop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,095 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Rice + lemontop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,366 recipes

Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
Sauce + ricetop 20% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together2,396 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Lobster + ricetop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together166 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
Lobster + lemontop 29% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,100 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: Provides the main protein and sweet, delicate flavour of the dish.
Curry sauce: Supplies the spiced liquid that coats the lobster and carries the flavour.