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 ↓
Lobster Patties
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the pastry
Roll out the puff pastry, cut it into shapes, and bake at 400°F (200°C) until golden.
Make the filling
Chop the lobster finely.
In a saucepan, melt the butter, then stir in the flour to make a roux.
Gradually add the water, stirring until smooth, then add the seasonings and veal gravy.
Stir in the minced lobster and simmer for five minutes.
Assemble and serve
Fill the baked pastry shells with the lobster mixture, sprinkle with lobster coral, and serve hot.
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.
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Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together27,047 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Lobster + anchovytop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together470 recipes
Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + anchovytop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,697 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Veal + anchovytop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together456 recipes
Shared aroma: hexanol (green, fruity).
Butter and flour 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
- Puff pastry
- Bakes into a light, flaky, golden shell that holds the filling.
- Butter
- Enriches the sauce and carries flavour while forming the roux.
- Flour
- Thickens the sauce by forming a roux with the melted butter.
- Lobster
- Provides the main flavour and texture of the filling.
- Veal gravy
- Adds savoury depth and colour to the sauce.
The step that matters
Stirring in the water gradually. Adding liquid to a roux slowly while stirring keeps lumps from forming, so the sauce becomes smooth and evenly thickened.
“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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