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Lobster, Devilled

A lobster dish with seasoned meat, bread crumbs, butter, and white sauce baked until golden.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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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, Devilled

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the lobster

  1. Cut the lobster in half lengthwise, keeping the shell whole.

  2. Carefully remove the meat.

  3. Chop the lobster meat finely.

Make the filling

  1. Melt the butter and pour it over the lobster meat.

  2. Add the bread crumbs and the white sauce.

  3. Season with cayenne pepper to taste and mix the ingredients well.

  4. Press the mixture lightly into the lobster shell.

Bake and serve

  1. Cover the filled shell with browned bread crumbs.

  2. Dot the top with 3 or 4 pieces of butter.

  3. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for about 20 minutes.

  4. Serve hot or cold.

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 + saucetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,095 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

  3. Butter + saucetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together15,338 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Bread + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,964 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Lobster + buttertop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,609 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).

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 meat
Provides the main protein and sweet flavour that forms the body of the filling.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture, and helps the top brown in the oven.
White bread crumbs
Absorb the butter and sauce, giving the filling body so it holds together.
White sauce or cream
Adds moisture and creaminess, keeping the filling soft rather than dry.

The step that matters

Pressing the filling lightly into the shell. Packing the mixture too tightly squeezes out moisture and makes the filling dense and dry. A light press keeps it tender and gives the bread crumbs room to crisp on top.

“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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