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Lobster, Scalloped

A baked lobster dish with white sauce, egg yolks, and bread crumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Sauce and anchovy are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,057 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Lobster, Scalloped

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. Remove the spawn from the lobster, pound it with 1 ounce of butter, and pass it through a fine sieve.

  2. Cut the lobster flesh into small dice.

Make the filling

  1. Heat the white sauce, add the pounded spawn, anchovy essence, cayenne, and season to taste.

  2. Stir over low heat for a few minutes, then add the lobster and egg yolks, stirring and cooking slowly for 2 to 3 minutes.

  3. Transfer the mixture to well-buttered scallop shells or the lobster shell.

Bake and serve

  1. Add a thin layer of bread crumbs, sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper, and add a few small pieces of butter.

  2. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for about 30 minutes.

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. Sauce + anchovytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Lobster + anchovytop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together470 recipes

    Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).

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

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

  5. Anchovy + breadtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,260 recipes

    Shared aroma: hexanol (green, fruity).

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

What each ingredient does

Hen lobster
Provides the main meat and the spawn that flavours the sauce.
White sauce
Forms the creamy base that holds the filling together and keeps it moist.
Egg yolks
Enrich the filling and help it set into a soft, custard-like texture when heated.
Butter
Adds richness and helps the bread crumbs brown on top.
Anchovy essence
Adds a salty, savoury depth that boosts the lobster flavour.

The step that matters

Cooking the egg yolks into the filling. Egg yolks thicken when heated but scramble if the mixture gets too hot or cooks quickly. Stirring over low heat keeps the filling smooth and creamy rather than grainy.

“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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