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Deviled Lobster

A creamy lobster mixture served over buttered toast.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Deviled Lobster

Ingredients

Directions

Make the white sauce

  1. Make a white sauce by melting the butter in a saucepan.

  2. Once bubbling hot, whisk in the flour until smooth.

  3. Gradually add the cream, stirring until thickened.

  4. Season with salt, cayenne, and minced parsley.

Finish and serve

  1. Parboil the red pepper strips, then add to the sauce.

  2. Stir in the onion juice, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, and Tabasco.

  3. Reheat the sauce and mix in the lobster meat.

  4. Serve the mixture on rounds of buttered toast.

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 + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  2. Onion + mustardtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,259 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Parsley + mustardtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,588 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  4. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

  5. Parsley + oniontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Butter
Melted with flour to form a roux that thickens the sauce and adds richness.
Flour
Thickens the butter and cream into a smooth white sauce by gelatinizing its starch.
Cream
Forms the body of the sauce and adds richness and a silky texture.
Lobster meat
Provides the main protein and sweet flavour that the sauce carries.
Red pepper
Adds mild sweetness and colour; parboiling softens it before it joins the sauce.

The step that matters

Gradually add the cream, stirring until thickened. Adding cream too quickly to a roux can leave lumps, because flour starch must hydrate evenly. Adding it slowly while stirring keeps the sauce smooth as it thickens.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, flour, cream, parsley, pepper, sauce, mustard):

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Horseradishfits better
  3. Chivefits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, flour, cream, parsley, pepper, sauce, mustard. 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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