Why it works: Lobster and shrimp work together. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 403 recipes. Both carry 2,6-nonadienal, which smells cucumber, green. The science ↓
Cotelettes De Homard a L’ Aspic
ten cutlet moldsIngredients
Directions
Prepare the lining and filling
Line ten cutlet molds with aspic jelly.
Split the lobster, remove the meat, and cut into slices about 1/8 inch thick.
Cut the tomato into slices, removing skin and seeds.
Place a slice of lobster and a slice of tomato in each mold.
Wash and bone the anchovy, then pound it with the butter and shrimps in a mortar.
Moisten the mixture with enough aspic to make it set, then rub through a fine sieve.
Season to taste and fill the molds with the mixture.
Finish with a thin layer of aspic.
Unmould and serve
Once set, turn out the molds onto a round dish.
Fill the center with the remaining lobster meat and diced tomato.
Garnish with chopped aspic and parsley.
Keep in a cool place until ready to serve.
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.
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Lobster + shrimptop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together403 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
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Shrimp + buttertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,931 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
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Tomato + shrimptop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,689 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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Lobster + buttertop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,609 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
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Tomato + buttertop 22% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,918 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Aspic jelly
- Sets the molds and binds the filling into a firm, sliceable shape.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a smooth, spreadable texture to the pounded filling.
- Anchovies
- Contributes a salty, savoury depth to the shrimp and lobster filling.
- Picked shrimps
- Provides the main shellfish flavour and body in the pounded filling.
- Hen lobster
- Supplies the delicate meat that forms the visible slices in each mold.
The step that matters
Moisten the mixture with enough aspic to make it set. Aspic is a gelatin-based jelly that firms as it cools. Too little liquid leaves the pounded filling crumbly and unable to hold its shape when turned out, while the mixture must still be passed through the sieve smoothly.
Swap the tomato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lobster, shrimp, butter):
- Potatofits better
- Chivefits better
- Asparagusfits better
- Tomatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against lobster, shrimp, butter. 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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