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Lobster Croquettes

A fried dish of lobster and potato mixture shaped like an oyster, coated in egg and cracker crumbs.

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

Why it works: Potato and parsley are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,855 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Lobster Croquettes

Ingredients

Directions

Make the mixture

  1. Combine the lobster meat, mashed potato, beaten egg yolks, butter, and minced parsley in a bowl.

  2. Mold the mixture into shapes the size of an oyster.

Coat and fry

  1. Roll each croquette in egg, then coat with cracker crumbs.

  2. Fry in hot lard 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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Potato + parsleytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,855 recipes

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

  2. Potato + buttertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,456 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Meat + potatotop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together786 recipes

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

  4. Lobster + meattop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together909 recipes

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

  5. Butter + parsleytop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together28,563 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

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

What each ingredient does

Lobster meat
Provides the main flavour and bulk of the filling.
Mashed potato
Binds the filling and keeps the croquettes moist inside.
Egg yolks
Bind the mixture so it holds its shape when moulded and fried.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture to the filling.
Egg
Helps cracker crumbs stick to the outside of each croquette.
Cracker crumbs
Form a crisp, golden-browning outer crust when fried.

The step that matters

Fry in hot lard until golden brown. The lard must be hot enough to crisp the crumb coating quickly. If the fat is too cool, the croquettes absorb grease and turn soggy, and the filling can fall apart before the crust sets.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lobster, meat, potato, egg, butter):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against lobster, meat, potato, egg, butter. 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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