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Totted Lobsters

A chilled lobster mousse made with seasoned lobster meat, butter, and optional shrimp, pressed into molds and topped with clarified butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Mace and nutmeg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,557 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓

Totted Lobsters

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the lobster

  1. Carefully separate the flesh of the lobsters from the shells and tough skin.

  2. Mince the lobster meat with a sharp knife and transfer to a large bowl.

Make the mousse

  1. Add a seasoning mix of cayenne, mace, nutmeg, and salt, ensuring the salt is finely powdered.

  2. Pound the mixture with 2 to 3 ounces of butter for large lobsters, less for small ones.

  3. If using, rub the lobster coral through a sieve and add to the mixture.

  4. For color, stew the red skin of the tails in some butter for 10-12 minutes, strain, and cool before adding to the mixture.

  5. Adjust seasoning to taste, ensuring the lobster flavor remains dominant.

  6. Chop and pound fresh brown shrimps with the lobster if desired.

Chill and mold

  1. Chill the mixture in a cool place or over ice to firm it up before pressing into molds.

  2. Press the mixture into molds, smooth the surface, and cover with clarified butter.

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. Mace + nutmegtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,557 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  2. Lobster + shrimptop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together403 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).

  3. Butter + shrimptop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,931 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).

  4. Nutmeg + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together24,377 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Lobster + buttertop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,609 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Freshly boiled lobsters
Provide the main flesh, flavor and body of the mousse.
Firm unsalted butter
Adds richness and a smooth, spreadable texture when pounded with the lobster.
Lobster coral
Adds rich lobster flavor and a deep orange color to the mixture.
Red skin of lobster tails
Adds color to the mixture once stewed in butter and strained.

The step that matters

Chill the mixture until firm before molding. Cold firms the butter so the mixture sets and holds its shape in the molds. If it is still warm and soft, it will slump and press unevenly.

Swap the mace

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

  1. Capersfits better
  2. Cinnamonfits better
  3. Parsleyfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against lobster, nutmeg, butter, shrimp. 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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