Name: Currie of Lobsters, or Prawns
Ingredients: lobsters or prawns; 1 small piece of mace; 3-4 tablespoons of veal gravy; 4 tablespoons of cream; 1-2 teaspoons of curry powder; 1 teaspoon of flour; 1 ounce of butter; juice of ½ lemon; salt to taste

Why it works: Lobster and cream 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 ↓

Currie of Lobsters, or Prawns

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare and simmer

Remove the shells from the lobsters or prawns.
In a pan, combine the seafood with mace, veal gravy, and cream.
In a bowl, mix curry powder, flour, and butter until smooth. Add this mixture to the pan and simmer for 1 hour.

Finish

Squeeze in the lemon juice and add salt to taste.

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.

Lobster + creamtop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,050 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,516 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,227 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Veal + lemontop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together4,580 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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

Lobsters or prawns: Provides the main seafood flavour and tender, delicate protein for the curry.
Cream: Adds richness and body, softening the sauce and carrying the spices.
Curry powder: Supplies the warm, aromatic spice flavour that defines the dish.
Flour: Thickens the sauce as it simmers, giving it a smooth, coating texture.
Butter: Adds fat and richness, helping the flour blend smoothly and carrying flavour.
Lemon juice: Adds brightness and acidity that lifts the richness of the cream and butter.

The step that matters

Simmering the curry mixture. Flour needs sustained gentle heat to cook out its raw taste and thicken fully. Boiling vigorously can toughen seafood and cause the cream sauce to separate, so keep it at a gentle simmer.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lobster, veal, cream, flour, butter, lemon):

Tarragonfits better
Nutmegfits better
Capersfits better
Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against lobster, veal, cream, flour, butter, lemon. 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.

Lemon Sauce236 recipes

Lobster Sauce174 recipes

Lobster Croquettes99 recipes

Veal Patties50 recipes

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Currie of Lobsters, or Prawns