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Lobster in White Sauce

A baked casserole of canned lobster topped with white sauce, breadcrumbs, and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Lobster and sauce are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,095 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Lobster in White Sauce

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Thoroughly drain the lobster and divide it into large flakes.

  2. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).

  3. Line a pie dish with a border of puff pastry and bake until golden.

  4. Prepare the white sauce as directed.

Assemble and bake

  1. Layer the lobster in the pie dish, sprinkling each layer with salt, pepper, and a little cayenne.

  2. Pour the white sauce over the lobster and cover with breadcrumbs.

  3. Dot the top with small pieces of butter and bake for 35 to 45 minutes until the surface is browned.

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 + saucetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,095 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Sauce + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together15,338 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Lobster + buttertop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,609 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).

  4. Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

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

  5. Sauce + peppertop 27% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together15,303 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Sauce and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 15,338 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Lobster
Provides the main protein and flavour, and its flakes form the body of the filling.
White sauce
Adds moisture and creaminess, keeping the lobster from drying out in the oven.
Breadcrumbs
Form a top layer that crisps and browns in the oven.
Butter
Adds fat that helps the topping brown and enriches the flavour.

The step that matters

Dot the top with butter and bake until browned. The top needs enough fat and heat to brown properly. Watching the surface rather than only the clock shows when the breadcrumbs have browned and the filling is hot through.

“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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