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Potted Lobster

A lobster dish cooked in butter, lemon, anchovy essence, cayenne, and cream, served in small pots.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,047 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓

Potted Lobster

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Pound the lobster and mix with half the butter.

  2. Season with pepper, salt, lemon juice, essence of anchovy, and cayenne pepper.

  3. Moisten with a little cream or more butter.

Pot and set

  1. Press the mixture into small pots.

  2. Melt the remaining butter and pour it over the lobster mixture.

  3. Set the pots in a cool place.

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. Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together27,047 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  2. Lobster + anchovytop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together470 recipes

    Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).

  3. Lobster + creamtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,050 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  4. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  5. Butter + anchovytop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,697 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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 spread and provides its flavor.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture, and helps the mixture hold together when chilled.
Thick cream
Moistens the mixture to a softer, spreadable texture.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the rich lobster and butter.
Essence of anchovy
Adds savory depth that enhances the seafood flavor.

The step that matters

Melt the remaining butter and pour it over the lobster mixture. Butter poured on top forms a seal that protects the lobster from air and drying, helping it keep its flavor and texture while it sets.

“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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