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Lobster Cutlets

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Lobster Cutlets

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Place the lobster on a chopping board and break the shell with a chopper.

  2. Remove the shell and claws, then cut the flesh into ¼ inch cubes.

  3. Remove the coral from the lobster and place it in a mortar with ½ ounce of butter.

  4. Work the coral and butter together until well combined.

  5. Pass the mixture through a sieve to make a puree.

  6. Form the puree into a pat and place it in cold water.

  7. In a clean saucepan, mix 1½ ounces of flour and ½ ounce of butter with a wooden spoon.

  8. Add ½ cup of cold water and stir until thickened and boiling.

  9. Stir in 1 tablespoon of cream and ensure the mixture is smooth.

  10. Remove from heat and gradually stir in the coral butter until smooth.

  11. Season with salt, pepper, cayenne, and lemon juice, mixing thoroughly.

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. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  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. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

  5. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lobster, cream, flour, butter, egg, bread, pepper):

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Parsleythe original
  3. Capersfits about as well
  4. Tarragonfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against lobster, cream, flour, butter, egg, bread, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

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