Name: Potted Lobsters
Ingredients: freshly-boiled lobsters; 2 to 3 ounces firm new butter; cayenne pepper; pounded mace; lightly grated nutmeg; coarse sea salt; red skin of lobster tails; brown shrimps (optional)

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 ↓

Potted Lobsters

Ingredients

Directions

Carefully separate the flesh of the lobsters from the shells and tough skin.
Mince the lobster flesh with a sharp knife and place it in a large bowl.
Add cayenne, pounded mace, nutmeg, and a small amount of salt, all finely ground.
Pound the mixture into a paste, adding butter based on the size of the lobster.
If available, rub lobster coral through a sieve and mix it in.
For color, stew the red skin of the tails in some butter for 10-12 minutes, strain, and cool before adding to the mixture.
Taste and adjust seasoning, ensuring the lobster flavor remains dominant.
Optionally, chop and pound fresh brown shrimps with the lobster mixture.
Chill the mixture in a cool place or over ice until firm.
Press the mixture into pots or molds, smoothing the surface and topping 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.

Mace + nutmegtop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together6,557 recipes

Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together13,015 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Lobster + shrimptop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together403 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
Butter + shrimptop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,931 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
Pepper + macetop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together12,257 recipes

Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

Pepper and mace barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 12,257 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

Swap the mace

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

Parsleyfits better
Tarragonfits better
Cinnamonfits better
Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against lobster, butter, pepper, nutmeg, shrimp. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.