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Devilled Lobster on Toast

A chilled lobster mixture served on toast or fried bread.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Lobster and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,050 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-one, which smells mushroom, metallic. The science ↓

Devilled Lobster on Toast

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the lobster

  1. Remove the meat from the lobster and pound it with the breadcrumbs and butter.

  2. Add white vinegar, mustard, and seasonings to taste.

  3. Rub the mixture through a sieve.

Assemble and serve

  1. Pile the lobster mixture on rounds of toast or fried bread.

  2. Cover with whipped cream or sauce, seasoned with cayenne and vinegar or lemon juice.

  3. Serve 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 + creamtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,050 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

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

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

  3. Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

  5. Nutmeg + mustardtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,019 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

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

What each ingredient does

Lobster
Provides the main meat and savory flavor of the spread.
Breadcrumbs
Bind the pounded lobster and give the mixture body.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, giving the mixture a smooth texture.
Thick cream
Adds richness and moisture to the topping.
White vinegar
Adds acidity that sharpens the flavor of the rich mixture.
Mustard
Adds sharp, pungent flavor that balances the richness.

The step that matters

Rub the mixture through a sieve. Pressing the pounded mixture through a sieve breaks down fibers and lumps, producing the smooth, even texture the spread needs. Skipping this leaves a coarse, uneven paste.

Swap the nutmeg

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

  1. Capersfits better
  2. Tarragonfits better
  3. Celeryfits about as well
  4. Nutmegthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against lobster, cream, butter, vinegar, mustard, bread. 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.

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