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To Pot Lobsters

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Nutmeg and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,686 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

To Pot Lobsters

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

  1. Half boil the lobsters, then remove the meat and cut it into small pieces.

  2. Season the meat with mace, white pepper, nutmeg, and coarse sea salt.

  3. Press the seasoned meat into a pot and cover it with butter.

  4. Bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven for 30 minutes.

  5. Once cooled, take the lobster out and place it into pots with some of the melted butter.

  6. In a mortar, beat the remaining butter with some of the lobster spawn.

  7. Mix the colored butter with enough to cover the pots, then strain it.

  8. Add cayenne pepper if desired.

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. Nutmeg + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,686 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  3. Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  4. Mace + clovetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together8,400 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

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

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

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

Swap the clove

The recipe marks clove as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lobster, mace, white pepper, nutmeg, butter, pepper):

  1. Allspicefits about as well
  2. Parsleyfits about as well
  3. Clovethe original
  4. Cinnamonfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against lobster, mace, white pepper, nutmeg, butter, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

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