Name: Lobster-salad
Ingredients: 1 medium lobster, cooked and flesh removed; 1 head of crisp lettuce, chopped; ½ teaspoon salt; a pinch of black pepper; butter the size of an egg; vinegar, to taste; 3 eggs, boiled and sliced

Why it works: Lettuce and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,037 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Lobster-salad

Ingredients

Directions

Make the salad

In a bowl, combine the lobster flesh, chopped lettuce, salt, black pepper, butter, and vinegar.
Mix well and spread the mixture on a platter, smoothing the top.
If available, save the lobster spawn to garnish the top.

Garnish and serve

Boil the eggs for six minutes, then cool, shell, and slice them.
Arrange the egg slices on and around the salad before serving.

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.

Lettuce + peppertop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,037 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Pepper + vinegartop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,814 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Lettuce + vinegartop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,370 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together118,967 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Lobster + lettucetop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together411 recipes

Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).

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

What each ingredient does

Lobster flesh: Provides the main protein and substance of the salad.
Lettuce: Adds crisp texture and a fresh, watery bulk to the salad.
Butter: Adds richness and a smooth mouthfeel that coats the lobster and lettuce.
Vinegar: Adds acidity that brightens the flavour and balances the richness of the butter.
Eggs: Add creamy texture and mild flavour as a garnish.

Swap the lettuce

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

Capsicumfits better
Mustardfits better
Cucumberfits about as well
Lettucethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against lobster, pepper, butter, egg, vinegar. 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.