Why it works: Cream and lobster 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 ↓
Cream Lobster
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Prepare the lobster as for salad.
In a bowl, mix flour and butter until well combined.
Make the sauce
Add the egg yolk, salt, and cayenne pepper to the mixture.
Stir in the cream and heat until boiling.
Finish and serve
Gently fold in the lobster and serve immediately.
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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Cream + lobstertop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,050 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
- Flour
- Thickens the sauce by absorbing liquid and forming a stable structure when heated.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat that carries flavor and gives a smooth mouthfeel.
- Egg yolk
- Adds richness and thickens the sauce as its proteins set with gentle heat.
- Cream
- Supplies the liquid base and moisture that makes the sauce rich and smooth.
- Cooked lobster
- Forms the main body of the dish, providing sweet meat and tender texture.
The step that matters
Stir in the cream and heat until boiling. Egg yolk thickens by protein coagulation, and if the mixture is heated too fast or allowed to boil hard, the yolk can curdle or scramble. Stirring constantly and heating gently keeps the sauce 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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