Why it works: Lobster and meat work together. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 909 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-one, which smells mushroom, metallic. The science ↓
Lobster Salad
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Cut the boiled lobster meat into even pieces.
Marinate the lobster.
Place it in a cool place until ready to serve.
Mix and serve
Mix the lobster with shredded lettuce and mayonnaise dressing in a ratio of ½ cup dressing to every pint of salad.
Serve immediately after mixing.
Serve on curly lettuce leaves, garnished with additional dressing and powdered coral if desired.
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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Lobster + meattop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together909 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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Lobster + lettucetop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together411 recipes
Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).
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Meat + lettucetop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together579 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
- Boiled lobster meat
- Forms the main protein body of the salad, giving it substance and a tender, flaky bite.
- Mayonnaise dressing
- Adds fat and moisture, binding the lobster and lettuce and keeping the salad creamy.
- Shredded lettuce leaves
- Adds crisp texture and bulk that lightens the rich lobster and dressing.
The step that matters
Serve immediately after mixing. Once dressed, the lettuce releases water and wilts, so the salad loses crispness and the dressing thins. Serving promptly keeps texture and appearance at their best.
Swap the lettuce
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lobster, meat):
- Mustardfits better
- Lettucethe original
- Shallotfits about as well
- Potatofits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against lobster, meat. 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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