Why it works: Butter and lobster are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,609 recipes. Both carry 2,6-nonadienal, which smells cucumber, green. The science ↓
Lobster Butter
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Clean and remove gills from the lobster coral.
Force the coral through a fine sieve.
Make the butter
In a mortar, combine the coral and butter.
Pound until well blended.
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.
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Butter + lobstertop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,609 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Butter
- Provides fat and richness, carrying the coral's flavor and giving the mixture a smooth, spreadable texture.
- Lobster coral
- Supplies the distinctive flavor and the bright orange color of the butter.
The step that matters
Pound until well blended. Coral must be fully worked into the butter so the color and flavor spread evenly. Pounding breaks the coral into fine particles and lets the fat absorb it; streaks or flecks mean uneven flavor.
“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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