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Lobster Sauce

A sauce made from lobster coral and spawn, butter, water or vinegar, mustard, salt, pepper, and optional lobster meat.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Lobster Sauce

Why it works: Vinegar and mustard are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,067 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Lobster Sauce

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the coral

  1. Put the coral and spawn of the boiled lobster into a mortar with 2 tablespoons of butter.

  2. Pound it to a smooth mass.

  3. Rub it through a sieve.

Make the sauce

  1. Melt nearly ½ cup of sweet butter with ¼ cup of water or vinegar.

  2. Add 1 teaspoon of prepared mustard, the coral and spawn, and a little salt and pepper.

  3. Stir until smooth.

  4. Chop some of the lobster meat finely (optional).

  5. Stir it in (optional).

  6. Serve.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,430 recipes

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

  3. Mustard + meattop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together855 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

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

  5. Lobster + meattop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked 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

Coral and spawn
Gives the sauce its rich lobster flavour and orange colour.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, carrying flavour and giving the sauce a smooth body.
Water or vinegar
Thins the butter into a pourable sauce; vinegar adds a touch of acidity.
Prepared mustard
Adds sharp, tangy flavour that balances the richness of the butter.

The step that matters

Stir until smooth. Butter and liquid are an emulsion that can separate if overheated or not mixed thoroughly. Stirring the coral paste in well keeps the sauce creamy and evenly coloured rather than greasy or grainy.

Swap the mustard

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lobster, butter, vinegar, pepper, meat):

  1. Mustardthe original
  2. Capsicumfits about as well
  3. Shallotfits less well
  4. Potatofits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against lobster, butter, vinegar, pepper, 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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