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Lobster Cutlets

Lobster cutlets are breaded and fried pieces of lobster mixed with cream, egg, and seasonings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Lobster Cutlets

Ingredients

Directions

Make the base

  1. Melt the butter in a saucepan, then stir in the flour, cream, and white stock until smooth.

  2. Add the parsley, beaten egg, lobster, mushrooms, and truffle; cook for a few minutes.

  3. Pour the mixture onto a platter and let it cool completely.

Shape and fry

  1. Shape the cooled mixture into cutlets.

  2. Dip each cutlet in breadcrumbs, then in diluted egg, and again in breadcrumbs.

  3. Fry the cutlets in hot lard until golden brown.

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. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

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

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

  3. Butter + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,525 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

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

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

  5. Pepper + mushroomtop 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

Flour
Thickens the butter and cream into a stiff mixture that holds its shape when cooled.
Butter
Adds richness and flavour to the base and helps the flour cook smoothly.
Beaten egg
Binds the mixture so the cooled cutlets hold together, and gives a coating for the breadcrumbs.
Lobster
Provides the main seafood flavour and texture of the cutlets.
Cream
Adds moisture and richness, softening the mixture for a tender interior.

The step that matters

Let the mixture cool completely before shaping. A warm, soft mixture cannot hold its shape and may slump or tear. Cooling firms the starch-thickened base so the cutlets keep their form through coating and frying.

Swap the parsley

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

  1. Nutmegfits about as well
  2. Tarragonfits about as well
  3. Parsleythe original
  4. Capersfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against lobster, butter, flour, pepper, cream, egg, mushroom. 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.

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