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Lobster in Aspic

A chilled dish of diced lobster mixed with mayonnaise and mustard, set in aspic jelly.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 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 in Aspic

one for each person

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the filling

  1. Split the lobster and remove the meat, cutting it into dice-sized pieces.

  2. Beat the lobster meat with mayonnaise sauce and mustard and cress.

Make the aspic cases

  1. Fill the darioles with aspic jelly.

  2. Cut out the inside of the filled darioles with a cutter.

Fill and set

  1. Fill the darioles with the lobster mixture.

  2. Tap the filled darioles on the table to settle.

  3. Pour cold aspic jelly over the mixture.

  4. Keep the filled darioles on ice until just before serving.

Serve

  1. Turn out the aspic and serve one for each person.

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. Sauce + mustardtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,120 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Lobster + mustardtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together394 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

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

What each ingredient does

Lobster
Forms the main body and flavour of the filling.
Mayonnaise sauce
Adds moisture and richness, binding the lobster into a smooth filling.
Mustard and cress
Adds a fresh, peppery aroma and a bright green note.
Aspic jelly
Sets into a clear, firm case that holds the filling in shape.

The step that matters

Pouring the cold aspic over the filling. Aspic is gelatin-based, so it sets when cool and melts when warm. The aspic must be cold but still liquid, so it can settle over the filling without melting the set jelly or mixing into the lobster. Tapping the darioles first helps the filling settle level beneath it.

Swap the mustard

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lobster, sauce):

  1. Mustardthe original
  2. Horseradishfits about as well
  3. Capsicumfits less well
  4. Shallotfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against lobster, sauce. 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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