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Scolloped Lobster

A baked lobster dish with seasoned meat, vinegar, butter, cream, and a breadcrumb topping.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Lobster and sauce are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,095 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Scolloped Lobster

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the lobster

  1. Boil the lobster, then remove the meat and chop it finely.

  2. Season the meat with pepper, coarse sea salt, Worcestershire sauce or ketchup.

Make the mixture

  1. Add vinegar, a small piece of butter, and enough cream or milk to moisten the mixture.

  2. Place the mixture in a saucepan and bring it to a boil.

Bake and serve

  1. Transfer the mixture to a buttered dish and sprinkle bread crumbs or crushed crackers on top.

  2. Bake in a preheated oven at 400°F (200°C) until browned.

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 + saucetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,095 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

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

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

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

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

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

  5. Sauce + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,787 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Lobster
Provides the main protein and flavor, forming the body of the dish.
Cream or milk
Adds moisture and richness, keeping the chopped lobster tender rather than dry.
Bread crumbs or crushed crackers
Form a crisp topping that browns in the oven.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, contributing to flavor and browning.
Vinegar
Adds a sharp acidity that brightens the rich lobster and cream.

The step that matters

Bringing the mixture to a boil. Boiling a cream or milk mixture can scorch or curdle it, especially with acid added. Heat it gently and watch closely so the sauce stays smooth before it goes into the dish.

“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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