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Lobster Ramekins

A lobster dish served in ramekins with butter, tomato, stock, mushrooms, sherry, and seasonings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Mushroom and sherry are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,176 recipes. Both carry 2-methoxy-4-methylphenol, which smells smoky, clove. The science ↓

Lobster Ramekins

Ingredients

Directions

Make the filling

  1. In a saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat.

  2. Add the diced lobster, strained tomato, and stock.

  3. Cook for 15 minutes, then add the sliced mushrooms.

  4. Season with salt and cayenne pepper.

  5. Stir in the sherry and mix well.

Serve

  1. Serve in ramekins or paper cases.

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. Mushroom + sherrytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,176 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-methylphenol (smoky, clove).

  2. Tomato + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,719 recipes

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

  3. Butter + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,525 recipes

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

  4. Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

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

  5. Mushroom + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13,580 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Lobster
Provides the main body and sweet, rich seafood flavour of the filling.
Butter
Adds richness and carries flavour as the filling cooks in the pan.
Strained tomato
Adds acidity and body, giving the filling a smooth, saucy texture.
Mushrooms
Add earthy flavour and a tender, meaty texture to the filling.
Sherry
Adds aromatic depth and a subtle sweetness to the sauce.

The step that matters

Cook for 15 minutes, then add the sliced mushrooms. Simmering the lobster in the tomato and stock gently concentrates the sauce and cooks the seafood through. Adding mushrooms afterward keeps them from releasing too much liquid and turning soggy, so they stay tender rather than watery.

Swap the tomato

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Shallotfits about as well
  3. Spinachfits about as well
  4. Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against lobster, butter, mushroom, pepper, sherry. 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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