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Lobster Pudding

A baked lobster custard with bread crumbs, milk, and pork or ham.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Lobster and sauce are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,095 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Lobster Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Prepare

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. If using a whole lobster, remove the meat and chop it finely.

  3. In a bowl, combine the lobster, bread crumbs, milk or cream, cayenne pepper, salt, and Worcestershire sauce. Mix well until all ingredients are combined.

Assemble and bake

  1. In a baking dish, layer the thin slices of pork or ham.

  2. Pour the lobster mixture over the pork or ham.

  3. Bake in the preheated oven for about 30-40 minutes, or until set and golden on top.

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. Lobster + saucetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,095 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Bread + milktop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,466 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

  3. Milk + porktop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,386 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).

  4. Bread + porktop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,371 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

  5. Pepper + porktop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,121 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Lobster
Provides the main seafood flavor and the bulk of the filling.
Bread crumbs
Absorb the milk and help the mixture set into a soft, sliceable custard.
Milk or cream
Adds moisture and richness, and sets with the egg-free crumb mixture into a tender texture.
Salt pork or corned ham
Renders fat and flavor into the dish as it bakes, keeping the pudding moist from below.

The step that matters

Baking until set. Pulling the pudding too early leaves it runny, while over-baking dries the crumbs and toughens the top. Look for a firm center and a golden surface.

“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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