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Lobster Baked

A baked lobster dish with butter, white sauce, lemon, parsley, shallots, egg, breadcrumbs, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Lemon and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,037 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Lobster Baked

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the lobster

  1. Cut the lobster in half lengthwise and remove the meat from the shells, then mince it coarsely.

Make the filling

  1. Melt the butter in a saucepan and fry the shallots for 2 to 3 minutes without browning.

  2. Add the lobster, white sauce, parsley, lemon juice, nutmeg, salt, and pepper to the pan; stir over heat until thoroughly hot.

  3. Beat the egg slightly and add it to the mixture, cooking until it begins to bind.

Bake and serve

  1. Place the mixture into the lobster shells, cover lightly with brown breadcrumbs, and dot with small pieces of butter.

  2. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes at 350°F (175°C).

  3. Garnish with fried parsley before serving.

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. Lemon + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,037 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Parsley + shallottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,737 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  3. Parsley + nutmegtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,062 recipes

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

  4. Shallot + nutmegtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,019 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Lemon + nutmegtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,318 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

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

What each ingredient does

Lobster
Forms the main body of the filling and provides the meaty texture.
Egg
Binds the filling as its proteins set when gently heated.
Butter
Adds richness and fat that carries flavour and helps the filling stay moist.
White sauce
Adds moisture and creaminess so the filling holds together softly.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the rich lobster and butter.
Brown breadcrumbs
Forms a topping that browns in the oven for colour and crunch.

The step that matters

Cooking the egg into the filling. Egg should be added only after the mixture is off the heat or on low heat and cooked just until it begins to bind. Overheating causes the egg to scramble or curdle, making the filling grainy instead of smooth.

“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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