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Small Lobsters Stewed in Wine

A stew of small lobsters cooked in white wine with butter, onion, salt, pepper, and parsley.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Small Lobsters Stewed in Wine

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Make the stew

  1. In a pot, melt butter over medium heat.

  2. Add chopped onion and sauté until translucent.

  3. Pour in white wine and bring to a simmer.

  4. Add small lobsters, cover, and cook for 10-15 minutes until cooked through.

Season and serve

  1. Season with salt, pepper, and garnish with chopped parsley before serving.

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. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. White wine + buttertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,083 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  3. Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  4. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. White wine + oniontop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,535 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

What each ingredient does

Small lobsters
Provide the main protein, which turns tender and opaque as it cooks through in the liquid.
White wine
Adds acidity and aromatic depth to the cooking liquid, lifting the flavour of the stew.
Butter
Carries fat and flavour, helping the onion soften and adding richness to the broth.
Onion
Adds sweetness and savoury base flavour as it softens in the butter.

The step that matters

Cooking the lobsters. Lobster turns tough and rubbery when overcooked. Cook only until the flesh turns opaque and firm, since the shells and meat continue to cook slightly after the heat is reduced.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lobster, white wine, butter, pepper, parsley):

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Carrotfits better
  3. Capsicumfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against lobster, white wine, butter, pepper, parsley. 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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