Name: Lobster Ramekins
Ingredients: 1 boiled lobster, diced; 2 ½ tablespoons butter; ½ cup strained tomato; ¼ cup stock; ½ box mushrooms, sliced; salt to taste; cayenne pepper to taste; ½ cup sherry

Why it works: Mushroom and sherry are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,176 recipes. Both carry 2-methoxy-4-methylphenol, which smells smoky, clove. The science ↓

Lobster Ramekins

Ingredients

Directions

Make the filling

In a saucepan, melt the butter until well thickened.
Add the diced lobster, strained tomato, and stock.
Cook for 15 minutes, then add the sliced mushrooms.
Season with salt and cayenne pepper.
Finally, stir in the sherry.

Serve

Serve in ramekins or paper cases.

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.

Mushroom + sherrytop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,176 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-methylphenol (smoky, clove).
Tomato + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,719 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Butter + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together12,525 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,923 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Mushroom + peppertop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together13,580 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Lobster: Provides the main body and sweet, rich seafood flavor of the filling.
Butter: Adds fat and richness, carrying flavor through the filling.
Strained tomato: Adds acidity and savory depth, giving the filling its color and body.
Mushrooms: Add earthy flavor and a tender, meaty texture as they cook.
Sherry: Adds aroma and a mild sweetness and acidity to the sauce.

Swap the tomato

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

Capsicumfits better
Shallotfits about as well
Spinachfits about as well
Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against lobster, butter, mushroom, pepper, sherry. 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.