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Lobster

A boiled lobster prepared with butter, mace, nutmeg, and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Mace and nutmeg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,557 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓

Lobster

Ingredients

Directions

Cook and prepare the lobster

  1. Boil the live lobster in salted water.

  2. Insert a skewer into the vent to prevent water from entering.

  3. Once cold, remove all the flesh from the lobster.

Make the mixture

  1. Beat the lobster flesh in a mortar until fine.

  2. Season with beaten mace, grated nutmeg, and pepper.

  3. Mix in the piece of butter as you beat the lobster.

Pot and seal

  1. Press the mixture into a pot as tightly as possible.

  2. Melt some butter in a deep pan and skim off any scum.

  3. Pour the clear melted butter over the lobster mixture until covered.

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. Mace + nutmegtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,557 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  2. Walnut + nutmegtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,230 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Nutmeg + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

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

  4. Walnut + peppertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,039 recipes

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

  5. Butter + walnuttop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,832 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

What each ingredient does

Lobster
Provides the main meat, which beats into a fine, spreadable paste.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture, and the clear layer seals the top.
Mace
Adds a warm, aromatic spice flavour.
Grated nutmeg
Adds a sweet, warm aroma that complements the lobster.
Pepper
Adds a mild, sharp heat to balance the richness.

The step that matters

Pour only the clear melted butter over the mixture. Skimming removes scum and milky solids, which contain water and would spoil or make the mixture soggy. Clear fat forms an airtight seal that keeps the lobster fresh.

Swap the mace

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

  1. Parsleyfits better
  2. Cinnamonfits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against lobster, butter, walnut, nutmeg, pepper. 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.

More lobster recipes

Salad 290Sauce 230Soup 137Cutlets 131Croquettes 109Boiled 88 See all 4 →

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