Why it works: Lobster and sugar work together. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 116 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
To Boil Lobsters
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Tie the claws of the lobster together.
Bring a pot of water to a boil and add coarse sea salt.
Cook
Carefully place the lobster in the boiling water.
Boil for about 1 hour, until the lobster is cooked through.
Remove the lobster and let it cool.
Serve
Split the tail and body from end to end, and crack the claws.
Serve cold, optionally adding sugar for flavor.
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.
-
Lobster + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together116 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Lobster
- The main protein; heat firms the flesh as it cooks through.
- Sugar
- Adds a light sweetness that can enhance the flavor of the cold meat.
The step that matters
Boil for about 1 hour, until the lobster is cooked through. Heat firms the proteins in the lobster meat, and holding it in boiling water too long makes the flesh tough and rubbery, so timing matters.
“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.
You might also like
Delicate Cake246 recipes
Boiled Frosting69 recipes
Citron Cake68 recipes
Scotch Cake63 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.