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Lobster Salad

A chilled salad of finely chopped lobster mixed with vinegar, salt, pepper, and dressing, served over lettuce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and lettuce are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,037 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Lobster Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut the lobster finely with a sharp knife.

  2. Mix the vinegar, salt, and pepper with the lobster.

  3. Chill the lobster mixture on ice for 1-2 hours.

  4. Prepare the lettuce as for a lettuce salad.

Assemble

  1. Combine the lobster and lettuce in a 1:2 ratio.

  2. Season to taste with 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. Pepper + lettucetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,037 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

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

  3. Vinegar + lettucetop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,370 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Lobster + lettucetop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together411 recipes

    Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).

  5. Lobster + vinegartop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together692 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

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 carries most of its flavor.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the lobster and sharpens its flavor.
Dressing
Adds moisture and richness, seasoning the salad to taste.

The step that matters

Chill the lobster mixture on ice for 1-2 hours. Cold keeps the lobster firm and fresh-tasting and slows spoilage, so it should stay chilled throughout. Letting it warm would make the seafood soft and more prone to spoiling.

Swap the lettuce

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Mustardfits better
  3. Cucumberfits about as well
  4. Lettucethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against lobster, vinegar, 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.

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