Why it works: Butter and lemon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,227 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓
Lobster Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Bruise the lobster body and remove the flesh, pulling it into small bits.
Combine the lobster flesh with melted butter and beef gravy.
Heat the mixture until hot, then season with salt and lemon juice before serving.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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.
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Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,227 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Butter + beeftop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,847 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
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Lobster + buttertop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,609 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
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Beef + lemontop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,278 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Lobster + beeftop 25% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together137 recipes
Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Lobster
- Provides the main flavor and tender, flaky texture of the sauce.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a smooth, silky mouthfeel to the sauce.
- Beef gravy
- Supplies savory depth and the liquid base that carries the sauce.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the rich butter and savory gravy.
The step that matters
Heat the mixture until hot, then season. Overheating can toughen the lobster and make the butter separate and turn greasy, so heat only until hot and add the lemon juice at the end.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lobster, butter, beef):
- Coconutfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
- Grapefits about as well
- Applefits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against lobster, butter, beef. 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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