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Lobster Savoury

A savory dish of lobster, eggs, olives, and anchovy paste, assembled on croutons.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Lobster and anchovy work together. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 470 recipes. Both carry octanal, which smells fat, soap. The science ↓

Lobster Savoury

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the eggs and lobster

  1. Boil the eggs hard and set aside in cold water.

  2. Drain the lobster and pound it in a mortar with cayenne and anchovy paste.

  3. Fry croutons as directed in a separate recipe, about 8 pieces.

Assemble the savouries

  1. Shell the eggs and cut 4 slices from the thickest part; place them on the croutons.

  2. Stone the olives, cut them in half, and use two halves cut into thin strips to create a fence around the egg rings.

  3. Mix the remaining egg yolks with the lobster mixture, color with cochineal, and fill the centers of the savouries.

Garnish and serve

  1. Arrange the half olives neatly on a dish, garnish with the remaining chopped egg white and olives around the dish.

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. Lobster + anchovytop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together470 recipes

    Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).

  2. Bread + olivetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,091 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

  3. Bread + anchovytop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,260 recipes

    Shared aroma: hexanol (green, fruity).

  4. Olive + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together30,263 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  5. Olive + anchovytop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together880 recipes

    Shared aroma: hexanol (green, fruity).

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

What each ingredient does

Lobster
Provides the main savoury filling and flavour of the spread.
Eggs
Egg whites and yolks give the filling body and a rich, creamy texture.
Anchovy paste
Adds a salty, savoury depth that enhances the lobster flavour.
Round thin bread
Serves as the crisp fried base that holds the egg and lobster topping.

The step that matters

Mixing the yolks with the lobster mixture. The yolks must be blended smoothly so the filling is even in texture and colour. Lumps of yolk or uneven mixing leave pockets of plain yolk and uneven tint from the cochineal.

“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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