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Scalloped Lobster

A baked lobster dish topped with cracker crumbs and parsley.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Lobster and parsley work together. They rank in the top 24% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 890 recipes. Both carry octanal, which smells fat, soap. The science ↓

Scalloped Lobster

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

  1. Chop the lobsters and set aside the shell.

  2. Layer the chopped lobster in a baking dish, seasoning as you go.

  3. Pour in the milk (or water).

  4. Top with cracker crumbs.

Bake and serve

  1. Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 30 minutes.

  2. Garnish with grated shell and parsley sprigs before serving.

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 + parsleytop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together890 recipes

    Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).

  2. Milk + parsleytop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,011 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  3. Lobster + milktop 27% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together489 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).

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 of the dish.
Milk
Adds moisture and creates a creamy, tender base as it heats.
Cracker crumbs
Form a crisp, browned topping during baking.

The step that matters

Layering and adding the liquid. Pouring the milk over the lobster before topping with crumbs keeps the lobster moist during baking. Seasoning each layer spreads flavor through the dish rather than leaving it only on the surface.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lobster, milk):

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Cinnamonfits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. Parsleythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against lobster, milk. 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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