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Lobster Devilled

Devilled lobster is a lobster dish with butter, breadcrumbs, and cayenne, baked in the shell.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 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 Devilled

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 carefully remove the meat, keeping the shell whole.

  2. Chop the lobster meat finely.

Make the filling

  1. Melt the butter and pour it over the lobster meat.

  2. Add the white breadcrumbs, white sauce, and cayenne; mix well.

  3. Press the mixture lightly into the lobster shell.

Bake and serve

  1. Cover with browned breadcrumbs and dot with 3 or 4 pieces of butter.

  2. Bake for about 20 minutes in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C).

  3. Serve hot or cold.

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. Butter + saucetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together15,338 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Lobster + buttertop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,609 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).

Butter and sauce barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 15,338 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Lobster
Provides the main meat that forms the body of the dish.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture to the filling and helps the top brown.
White breadcrumbs
Absorb the butter and sauce, giving the filling body and a soft texture.
White sauce or cream
Adds moisture so the filling stays tender rather than dry when baked.
Browned breadcrumbs
Form a crisp, golden crust on top through browning.

The step that matters

Pressing the filling into the shell. Pressing too firmly compacts the mixture and squeezes out moisture, making the filling dense and dry. Light pressure keeps it tender while holding its shape in the shell.

“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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