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Lobster Creams

A custard-like dish made from lobster, butter, anchovy sauce, eggs, and cream, steamed in molds.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Anchovy and sauce are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,057 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Lobster Creams

serves 12 dariole molds

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the mixture

  1. Chop the lobster and pound it well, then pass it through a wire sieve.

  2. Add the butter, anchovy sauce, egg yolks, and cream to the lobster mixture.

  3. Beat the egg whites to a stiff froth and gently stir them into the mixture.

  4. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Steam the creams

  1. Butter twelve dariole molds and fill them three-quarters full with the mixture.

  2. Cover each mold with greased paper.

  3. Place the covered molds in boiling water, ensuring the water reaches halfway up the molds.

  4. Do not allow the water to boil again.

  5. Steam for twenty minutes.

Serve

  1. Remove the molds from the pan.

  2. Turn the mixture out onto a hot dish.

  3. Serve with any fish sauce.

  4. Garnish with lemon, prawns, and lobster coral.

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. Anchovy + saucetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

    Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).

  3. Lobster + saucetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,095 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

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

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

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

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

What each ingredient does

Lobster
Provides the main flesh and flavour, and its pounded texture forms the body of the creams.
Eggs
Egg yolks bind the mixture, and whipped whites lighten it and help it set when steamed.
Butter
Adds richness and a smooth, moist texture to the creams.
Cream or milk
Adds moisture and softness, keeping the creams tender rather than dry.
Anchovy sauce
Adds a salty, savoury depth that enhances the flavour of the lobster.

The step that matters

Do not allow the water to boil again. Steaming gently at a simmer cooks the egg-based creams evenly and keeps them smooth. A hard boil can make the eggs bubble and turn the texture coarse or spongy.

“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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