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Grilled Lobster

A lobster half grilled with butter, salt, and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Lobster and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,609 recipes. Both carry 2,6-nonadienal, which smells cucumber, green. The science ↓

Grilled Lobster

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut the lobster in half lengthwise, starting at the brain.

  2. Wash the lobster halves thoroughly.

  3. Preheat the grill to high heat.

Grill

  1. Place the lobster on the grill, shell side down.

  2. Add a little butter on top of the lobster.

  3. Grill for about 10 minutes until cooked through.

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. Lobster + buttertop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,609 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).

  2. Pepper + buttertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

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

  3. Lobster + peppertop 27% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,247 recipes

    Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).

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

What each ingredient does

Lobster
Main protein; its meat firms and turns opaque as heat sets it.
Butter
Fat that adds richness and moisture to the lean meat.

The step that matters

Grill for about 10 minutes until cooked through. Lobster meat turns tough and rubbery when overcooked, because heat tightens its proteins past the point of tenderness. Check that the flesh is opaque and firm, rather than relying only on the clock.

“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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