Why it works: Lobster and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,050 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-one, which smells mushroom, metallic. The science ↓
Curried Lobster
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the lobster
Place the ham slice in a shallow saucepan.
Add the lobster meat, Cayenne pepper, and salt.
Mix the white soup and cream, then pour over the lobster.
Simmer and thicken
Simmer on low heat for about 1 hour.
In a small bowl, mix the curry powder and flour with a little liquid from the pot, then add this mixture to the saucepan and cook for 3 more minutes.
Serve
Serve with a rim of cooked rice around the dish, 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 + creamtop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,050 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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Pepper + ricetop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,379 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Meat + hamtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,095 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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Meat + ricetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,481 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Lobster + meattop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together909 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Lobster
- Provides the main protein, which becomes tender during the long, gentle simmer.
- White soup
- Forms the creamy sauce base and adds body and moisture to the dish.
- Cream
- Adds richness and a smooth, silky texture to the sauce.
- Flour
- Thickens the sauce as it cooks with the liquid, giving it body.
- Curry powder
- Adds warm, aromatic spice flavour that defines the dish.
The step that matters
Thickening with curry powder and flour. Flour must be mixed with liquid before it goes into the pot, otherwise it clumps. Cooking it for a few minutes after adding removes the raw floury taste and lets the sauce thicken.
“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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