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To Pot Lobsters

A method of cooking lobsters by baking, pressing, and clarifying butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Allspice and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,331 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

To Pot Lobsters

Oven, in the book's wordsA slow oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the lobster

  1. Split the tail of the lobsters and remove the black gut.

  2. Parboil the lobsters briefly.

Season and bake

  1. Butter the bottom of a baking dish and place the lobster pieces flat in it.

  2. Season with cayenne, allspice, nutmeg, white pepper, and salt.

  3. Place bay leaves between each piece of lobster and cover with butter.

  4. Bake in a slow oven at 300°F (150°C).

Press and pot

  1. After baking, press down the lobster with another dish and add weights for 6-8 hours.

  2. Remove the lobster, discard the bay leaves, and pack the lobster into pots.

  3. Cover the lobster with clarified butter.

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. Allspice + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,331 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Pepper + allspicetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,395 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Nutmeg + white peppertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,375 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Allspice + white peppertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together272 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

What each ingredient does

Lobsters
Provide the meat that is cooked, pressed and preserved in butter.
Butter
Coats the lobster during baking and seals it under the final clarified butter layer.
Clarified butter
Covers the packed lobster, sealing out air to preserve it.
Cayenne pepper
Adds heat that seasons the lobster meat.
Bay leaves
Add aromatic flavour to the lobster during baking.

The step that matters

Pressing after baking. Pressing the lobster under weight for 6-8 hours packs the meat together and expels excess liquid, so it sets dense and holds together when potted. Too little pressure or time can leave the texture loose and watery.

Swap the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lobster, butter, pepper, allspice, nutmeg):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Clovefits better
  3. Parsleyfits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against lobster, butter, pepper, allspice, nutmeg. 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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