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Lobster Patties

A pastry shell filled with lobster and a creamy sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 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 cases

  1. Roll out the puff pastry to a thickness of ¼ inch and cut out 8 or 9 rounds using a 2½‑inch cutter.

  2. Brush the rounds with a beaten egg and cut an inner ring with a 1‑inch cutter to create a border.

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

  4. Remove the tops, scoop out the soft inside, and keep the pastry cases warm.

Make the lobster filling

  1. In a saucepan, melt the butter, add the flour, and cook for a few minutes.

  2. Pour in the fish stock or milk and stir until the sauce boils, then simmer for 10 minutes.

  3. Add the cream, egg yolks, lemon juice, anchovy essence, and season to taste, simmering gently until thickened.

  4. Strain the sauce through a fine sieve, return to the pan, and add the lobster cut into dice.

  5. Heat the lobster mixture thoroughly, then fill the pastry cases, replace the tops, garnish with parsley, and 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 a light, flaky, crisp case that holds the filling.
Butter
Enriches the sauce and carries flavour, with the flour helping to thicken it.
Flour
Thickens the butter and stock or milk into a smooth sauce.
Egg yolks
Thicken the sauce gently as it simmers and add richness.
Cream
Adds richness and a smooth, silky texture to the sauce.
Lobster
Provides the main flavour and tender texture of the filling.

The step that matters

Simmering the sauce after adding the egg yolks. Egg yolks thicken by gentle heat, but if the sauce boils they can scramble and turn grainy. Keep the heat low and stir constantly until it coats a spoon.

“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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