Why it works: Anchovy and sauce are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,057 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Melted Butter with Shrimps
Ingredients
Directions
Melt the butter until smooth.
Add the shelled shrimps to the butter.
Season with cayenne pepper and let the sauce simmer gently for 1 minute.
If desired, stir in the anchovy sauce before serving.
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.
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Anchovy + saucetop 2% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,057 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Shrimp + anchovytop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together440 recipes
Shared aroma: hexanol (green, fruity).
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Shrimp + buttertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,931 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
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Butter + anchovytop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,697 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Butter + saucetop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together15,338 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Butter and sauce barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 15,338 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Shrimps
- Provide the main protein and bulk of the dish, cooked gently in the warm butter.
- Butter
- Forms the sauce base, carrying flavour and giving a rich, smooth texture.
- Anchovy sauce
- Adds savoury depth to the butter sauce; optional.
The step that matters
Simmering the sauce gently. Butter contains water and milk solids that can separate or scorch if it boils hard. A gentle simmer keeps the sauce smooth and lets the shrimp warm through without toughening.
“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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