Why it works: Lobster and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,050 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-one, which smells mushroom, metallic. The science ↓
Creamed Lobster
Ingredients
Directions
Make the sauce
In a chafing dish, melt the butter over medium heat.
Add salt, cayenne, and cream to the melted butter.
Once boiling, add the lobster and its fat, stirring to combine.
Thicken and serve
Blend cornstarch with 2 tablespoons of cream, then stir into the mixture.
Cook for about 2 minutes, then add sherry and serve.
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 + creamtop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,050 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + sherrytop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,505 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Lobster + buttertop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,609 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
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Pepper + sherrytop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,107 recipes
Shared aroma: piperonal (bitter, coconut).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cold boiled lobster
- Provides the main protein and flavor of the dish.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat, carrying flavor and giving the sauce a smooth mouthfeel.
- Cream
- Forms the liquid base of the sauce and adds richness and body.
- Cornstarch
- Thickens the cream mixture as it heats, giving the sauce body.
- Sherry
- Adds a light acidity and aroma that brightens the rich sauce.
The step that matters
Stirring in the cornstarch mixture. Cornstarch must be blended smoothly into cold cream before being stirred into the hot mixture, then cooked for a short time. Adding it dry or unblended causes lumps, and undercooked starch leaves a raw, pasty taste and weak thickening.
“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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