Why it works: Lobster and sauce are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,095 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Lobster Ln Asplc
one for each personIngredients
Directions
Prepare the filling
Split the lobster and remove all the meat, cutting it into dice-sized pieces.
Beat the lobster meat with thick Mayonnaise Sauce and mustard and cress.
Assemble the moulds
Fill darioles with aspic jelly and cut out the inside with a cutter.
Fill the darioles with the lobster mixture, tapping them on the table to settle.
Pour in cold aspic jelly without letting it set.
Chill and serve
Keep the darioles on ice until just before serving.
Turn out and serve one for each person.
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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Lobster + saucetop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,095 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
-
Sauce + mustardtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,120 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
-
Lobster + mustardtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together394 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Lobster
- Provides the main body and flavour of the filling.
- Thick mayonnaise sauce
- Binds the lobster pieces and adds richness and moisture to the filling.
- Aspic jelly
- Sets into a clear, firm case that holds the shape of the moulded filling.
The step that matters
Pour in cold aspic jelly without letting it set. Aspic must stay liquid enough to flow over the filling and bond to the set layer below. If it sets early, it forms a weak, uneven seal and the surface may look cloudy or lumpy.
Swap the mustard
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lobster, sauce):
- Mustardthe original
- Horseradishfits about as well
- Capsicumfits less well
- Shallotfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against lobster, sauce. 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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