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Lobster Rissoles

A fried pastry shell filled with seasoned lobster mixture.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 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 ↓

Lobster Rissoles

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the filling

  1. Remove the flesh from the lobster shell and chop it finely.

  2. In a saucepan, combine the lobster, egg yolk, white sauce, parsley, and cayenne. Heat until thoroughly hot.

  3. Season to taste, then transfer to a plate and let cool.

Shape the rissoles

  1. Roll out the puff pastry as thinly as possible and cut into 2‑inch rounds.

  2. Place a small amount of the lobster mixture in the center of each round.

  3. Moisten the edges with cold water, fold into a half‑moon shape, and coat with egg and breadcrumbs.

Fry and serve

  1. Heat frying fat in a deep pan and fry the rissoles until golden brown.

  2. Drain well, then serve.

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

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  4. Parsley + breadtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,588 recipes

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

  5. Pepper + breadtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,964 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Lobster
Provides the main filling flavour and substance of the rissoles.
Puff pastry trimmings
Forms the flaky outer casing that encloses the filling.
Egg yolk
Binds the filling so it holds together when heated.
White sauce
Adds moisture and creaminess to the filling, keeping it from drying out.
Bread crumbs
Form a crisp, golden coating when fried.

The step that matters

Cooling the filling before shaping. If the lobster mixture is still hot or wet when sealed in thin pastry, it softens the dough and can cause the edges to split or leak during frying. Letting it cool and firm up keeps the parcels intact.

Swap the parsley

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

  1. Capersfits about as well
  2. Parsleythe original
  3. Tarragonfits about as well
  4. Nutmegfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against lobster, egg, sauce, pepper, bread. 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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