Why it works: Cream and lobster are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,050 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-one, which smells mushroom, metallic. The science ↓
Modern Cookery
Ingredients
Directions
Heat the melted butter over low heat in a saucepan.
Add the diced lobster flesh and keep the saucepan by the side of the fire until the lobster is heated through. Do not let the sauce boil again.
Serve very hot.
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.
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Cream + lobstertop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,050 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + lobstertop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,609 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
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Mace + creamtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,009 recipes
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Butter + macetop 22% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together11,405 recipes
Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Butter and mace barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 11,405 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
- Butter
- Carries the flavour and gives the sauce its rich, smooth body.
- Lobster flesh
- Provides the main protein and sweet, delicate flavour of the dish.
- Essence of anchovies
- Adds a salty, savoury depth that rounds out the butter.
- Cream
- Adds moisture and mild richness to soften the sauce.
The step that matters
Do not let the sauce boil again. Boiling melted butter can separate it into fat and milk solids and toughen the lobster, so gentle heat keeps the sauce smooth and the lobster tender.
Swap the mace
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, cream, lobster):
- Nutmegfits better
- Tarragonfits better
- Capersfits better
- Macethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, cream, lobster. 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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