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Lobster Salad

A chilled lobster salad set in a jelly mold with a vinegar and tarragon dressing.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and tarragon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,563 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Lobster Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the mold

  1. Cut the lobster into square pieces.

  2. Arrange a few pieces around a jelly mold.

  3. Mix in the chopped hard boiled eggs and parsley between the lobster pieces.

  4. Add a little red coral, then some salad, and repeat until the mold is filled.

Make the aspic

  1. In a saucepan, combine the calf’s-foot stock, vinegar, tarragon, beaten egg whites, salt, and pepper.

  2. Boil for five minutes, then strain through a jelly bag until clear and nearly cold.

Set and serve

  1. Fill the mold with the strained mixture.

  2. Once set, dip the mold in warm water and turn it out onto a dish.

  3. Serve with a thick salad dressing.

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 + tarragontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,563 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

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

  3. Tarragon + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,399 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Vinegar + tarragontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,547 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Lobster
Forms the main body of the salad and provides its flavour and texture.
Calf’s-foot stock
Its natural gelatin sets the liquid into a firm jelly once chilled.
Egg whites
When beaten and boiled with the stock, they collect impurities so the jelly strains clear.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the flavour of the jelly.
Hard boiled eggs
Add richness and a soft, creamy texture between the lobster pieces.

The step that matters

Straining the aspic until clear and nearly cold. Straining through a jelly bag removes the egg white particles and debris. If the liquid is still warm when filling the mold, it can cloud or fail to set firmly, so it should be nearly cold but still pourable.

“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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