Skip to main content
Main

Dkessed Fish

A lobster dish simmered in Chablis, Espagnole sauce, and butter, served in its shell.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Parsley and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,037 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Dkessed Fish

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the lobster

  1. Split the lobster down the center and cut the meat into small pieces.

  2. Fry the lobster meat in salad oil for 5 minutes, then pour off the oil.

Make the sauce

  1. Add Chablis, salt, pepper, cayenne, chopped parsley, and garlic; let boil for 5 minutes.

  2. Stir in the Espagnole sauce and cook for a few more minutes.

Assemble and serve

  1. Dish the lobster meat into the shells.

  2. Add butter and lemon juice to the sauce, bring to a boil, and pour over the lobster.

  3. Serve immediately.

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. Parsley + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,037 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  3. Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together27,047 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  4. Parsley + garlictop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,308 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  5. Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

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

What each ingredient does

Lobster
Provides the main meat, which firms and turns opaque as it cooks.
Chablis
Adds acidity and wine flavour as it boils down into the sauce.
Espagnole sauce
Thickens the sauce and adds a rich, savoury body.
Butter
Adds fat for a glossy finish and rounder flavour to the sauce.
Lemon juice
Adds brightness that balances the richness of the butter and sauce.

The step that matters

Frying the lobster meat. Frying in oil sears the cut surfaces so the meat stays firm. Overcooking it makes lobster tough and rubbery, so the later boiling must stay brief.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lobster, pepper, parsley, garlic, sauce, butter, lemon):

  1. Tarragonfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Capersfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against lobster, pepper, parsley, garlic, sauce, butter, lemon. 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.

You might also like

Lemon SauceLemon Sauce236 recipesLobster SauceLobster Sauce174 recipesLobster CroquettesLobster Croquettes99 recipesLobster BallsLobster Balls7 recipes