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Lobster in Aspic

A chilled aspic mold filled with lobster, lettuce, and seasonings, topped with mayonnaise and garnished with eggs and truffles.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Lobster and truffle work together. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and 155 recipes mention both. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓

The recipe

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Contains: egg, shellfish (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Make the aspic mold

  1. Melt enough aspic jelly to thinly cover a quart border mold.

  2. When it begins to set, arrange the lobster flesh (cut into neat pieces), tarragon leaves, and capers in the mold.

  3. Fill the mold with the remaining aspic jelly.

Prepare the salad

  1. Wash, dry, and shred the lettuce.

  2. Mix the shredded lettuce with the remaining lobster, oil, vinegar, pepper, and salt.

Assemble and garnish

  1. Once the mold is firmly set, turn it out and pile the salad in the center, masking it with a thick layer of Mayonnaise sauce.

  2. Garnish with chopped hard-boiled eggs, lobster coral, claws, capers, and truffles.

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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Lobster + truffletop 9% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together155 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  2. Lettuce + tarragontop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together278 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Lettuce + caperstop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together372 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Tarragon + caperstop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together267 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Capers + olivetop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together1,555 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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 flavor in both the mold and the salad.
Aspic jelly
Sets into a clear gel that encases the lobster pieces and holds the mold's shape.
Hard-boiled eggs
Add a firm, creamy texture and a mild richness to the garnish.
Lettuce
Adds crisp texture and freshness to the salad at the center of the mold.
Mayonnaise sauce
Adds fat and creaminess, coating the salad with a rich, smooth layer.

The step that matters

Melting and setting the aspic in layers. Aspic must be only just liquid and cooled until it begins to set before the lobster goes in; if it is too hot, it melts the layer below, and if too cold or set, the pieces will not adhere. Letting each layer firm before adding the next keeps the mold clear and the pieces in place.

Flavor stand-ins for the capers

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lobster, egg, lettuce, tarragon, olive, truffle, vinegar):

  1. Parsleyabout as good a flavor fit
  2. Capersthe original
  3. Thymeabout as good a flavor fit
  4. Celeryabout as good a flavor fit

Fit is the average pairing score against lobster, egg, lettuce, tarragon, olive, truffle, vinegar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).

“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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