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Creamed Lobster

A creamy lobster dish baked in scallop shells, topped with bread crumbs and served with lemon.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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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 ↓

Creamed Lobster

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the lobster

  1. If using canned lobster, strain off the lobster liquor.

  2. Cut the lobster meat into small dice and season it, then set aside.

Make the sauce

  1. Heat the milk or cream in a saucepan, adding a tiny bit of baking soda.

  2. Once hot, stir in the butter mixed with flour until it thickens.

  3. Add the lobster to the mixture and stir well.

  4. Prepare buttered scallop shells or dishes.

Bake and serve

  1. Fill the shells with the lobster mixture, sprinkle with bread crumbs, and brown in a 400°F (200°C) oven.

  2. Serve with sliced lemon and crackers.

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 + creamtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,050 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  2. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  4. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  5. Milk + breadtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,466 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

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 and flavor, and is held in the sauce as the filling.
Milk or cream
Forms the smooth liquid base that the flour thickens into a creamy sauce.
Butter
Adds richness and flavor, and is cooked with flour to form a roux that thickens the sauce.
Flour
Thickens the milk into a sauce when cooked with butter.
Bread crumbs
Forms a crisp topping that browns in the oven.

The step that matters

Thickening the sauce. Stirring the butter and flour into hot milk gradually lets the starch swell and thicken the sauce evenly. Adding the flour too fast or to cold liquid can leave lumps, so keep stirring as it heats.

“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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