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Lobster Soup

A savory soup made with onions, butter, ham, beef, rich stock, haddock, lobster, spices, and white wine.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and beef are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,092 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Lobster Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Make the stock base

  1. Combine chopped onions, butter, ham, and beef in a stew-pan.

  2. Cook until onions are soft.

  3. Gradually mix in rich stock.

  4. Boil the mixture.

  5. Strain through a fine sieve, pressing the onion pulp.

  6. Return the strained liquid to the pan.

  7. Boil, skimming as needed.

Add the fish and lobster

  1. Beat the haddock and lobster meat in a mortar until smooth.

  2. Stir the smooth mixture into the soup gradually until creamy.

  3. Boil again, skimming as needed.

  4. Cut the lobster tail and claws into pieces.

  5. Add the lobster pieces to the soup before serving.

  6. Season with pepper, cayenne, white pepper, and white wine.

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. Onion + beeftop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Beef + meattop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,533 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  5. Ham + meattop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,095 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

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

What each ingredient does

Onions
Break down into a pulp that thickens and flavours the soup.
Rich stock
Forms the liquid base of the soup.
Haddock
Beaten smooth, it adds body and a creamy texture to the soup.
Lobster
Provides the main shellfish flavour and tender pieces in the soup.
Butter
Adds richness and helps soften the onions without browning them.

The step that matters

Beating the haddock and lobster meat until smooth. If the fish is not fully broken down, it stays in lumps rather than thickening the soup evenly. Adding it gradually to the hot liquid helps it blend smoothly and avoids curdling or graininess.

Swap the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (onion, butter, ham, beef, meat, haddock, pepper):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Garlicfits better
  3. Parsleyfits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against onion, butter, ham, beef, meat, haddock, pepper. 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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