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Indian Lobster-cutlets

Lobster cutlets are fried pieces of lobster coated in seasoned breadcrumbs, served with a sauce of butter, anchovy essence, and chili vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Nutmeg and mace 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 ↓

Indian Lobster-cutlets

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the cutlets

  1. Select good-sized lobster tails and remove them whole.

  2. Slice the tails into pieces about ⅓ inch thick.

  3. Dip each piece into the beaten eggs, then coat with seasoned bread crumbs.

  4. Press the crumbs onto the lobster with a knife blade and repeat the egg and crumb process.

Fry and serve

  1. Fry the cutlets quickly in good butter until light brown.

  2. Serve arranged in a chain on a hot dish, with sauce in the center or in a tureen.

Make the sauce

  1. Heat the claw meat in melted butter.

  2. Add essence of anchovies, chili vinegar, salt, mace, and coral if available.

  3. Optionally, add whole or pounded shrimps to the sauce.

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. Nutmeg + macetop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,557 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  2. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

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

  4. Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  5. Bread + nutmegtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,997 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

What each ingredient does

Lobster tails
Provide the main protein, which is coated and fried as the cutlet.
Eggs
Bind the bread crumbs to the lobster so the coating adheres during frying.
Fine bread crumbs
Form a crisp, golden coating that browns when fried in butter.
Butter
Fries the cutlets to a light brown and adds richness and flavor.
Essence of anchovies
Adds a salty, savory depth to the sauce.
Chili vinegar
Adds sharp acidity and heat to the sauce.

The step that matters

Frying the cutlets quickly in butter. Butter browns at a lower temperature than oil and can burn before the coating sets. Frying briefly over steady heat browns the crumbs while keeping the lobster inside tender and moist.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lobster, egg, bread, pepper, nutmeg, butter, vinegar):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against lobster, egg, bread, pepper, nutmeg, butter, vinegar. 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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