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Gratinated Lobster

A lobster dish baked with mushrooms, béchamel, cream, glaze, cayenne, and breadcrumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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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 ↓

Gratinated Lobster

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the lobster

  1. Boil the lobster and drain it.

  2. Cut the lobster in half lengthwise.

  3. Dice the flesh of the tail and claws.

Make the filling

  1. Mix the lobster flesh with an equal quantity of diced cooked mushrooms in a stewpan.

  2. Pound the coral of the lobster with a little butter and pass it through a sieve.

  3. Reduce a few spoonfuls of béchamel sauce, adding a little cream and melted glaze.

  4. Add the béchamel mixture to the lobster and mushroom mixture, keeping it stiff.

  5. Season with cayenne pepper and add the pounded coral.

Fill and broil

  1. Fill the cleaned lobster shells with the mixture, smoothing the top with a knife.

  2. Sprinkle with bread crumbs, baste with melted butter, and broil until golden brown.

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 + saucetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,095 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Lobster + creamtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,050 recipes

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

  3. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Mushroom + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,525 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  5. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

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

What each ingredient does

Lobster
Provides the main meaty body of the filling and the shell that holds it.
Cooked mushrooms
Adds moisture and soft texture that bulks out the lobster flesh.
Béchamel sauce
Binds the filling together so it holds its shape when spooned into shells.
Cream
Enriches the béchamel, adding richness and a smoother, softer texture.
Bread crumbs
Form a crisp, golden crust that browns under the broiler.

The step that matters

Keeping the béchamel mixture stiff. If the sauce is too loose, it will thin the filling, making it run out of the shells and become watery. A stiff binder keeps the filling moist but set, so it holds its shape under the broiler.

“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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