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Lobster Patties

Lobster patties are puff pastry shells filled with a creamy lobster mixture.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Lobster and anchovy work together. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 470 recipes. Both carry octanal, which smells fat, soap. The science ↓

Lobster Patties

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Prepare the pastry

  1. Roll out the puff pastry to a thickness of ¼ inch.

  2. Cut out 8 or 9 rounds using a 2½-inch cutter.

  3. Brush the rounds with a beaten egg.

  4. Create an inner ring with a smaller cutter dipped in hot water.

  5. Bake in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C) for 20 to 25 minutes.

  6. Remove the pastry and keep the tops warm.

Make the lobster sauce

  1. Melt the butter in a saucepan.

  2. Add the flour and cook for a few minutes.

  3. Pour in the fish stock or milk and stir until the sauce boils.

  4. Simmer for about 10 minutes.

  5. Add the cream, egg yolks, lemon juice, anchovy essence, and seasoning.

  6. Simmer gently until thickened.

  7. Strain the sauce through a fine sieve.

  8. Return the sauce to the saucepan and add the lobster cut into dice.

  9. Heat the lobster mixture thoroughly.

Assemble and serve

  1. Fill the pastry cases with the lobster mixture.

  2. Replace the pastry tops.

  3. Garnish with parsley.

  4. 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.

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 + anchovytop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together470 recipes

    Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).

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

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

  3. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

  4. Fish + anchovytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together637 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Butter + fishtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,488 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Puff pastry
Bakes into flaky, layered cases that hold the filling.
Butter
Enriches the sauce and carries flavour, giving it a rich mouthfeel.
Flour
Thickens the butter and stock into a smooth base for the sauce.
Egg yolks
Thicken and enrich the sauce as it heats, adding body and richness.
Lobster
Provides the main flavour and tender, meaty texture of the filling.
Cream
Adds richness and a silky texture to the sauce.

The step that matters

Thickening the sauce with egg yolks. Egg yolks set when heated, so the sauce must simmer gently and not boil. Too much heat can curdle the yolks and leave the sauce grainy.

“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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