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Shrimp Wiggle

Sautéed shrimp and peas in cream sauce served on toast.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Shrimp Wiggle

Ingredients

Directions

Make the shrimp mixture

  1. In a chafing dish, melt butter and cook the shrimps for 10 minutes.

  2. Add the peas and cream sauce to the chafing dish.

  3. Let the mixture boil once.

Serve

  1. If desired, add ⅓ cup of sherry just before serving.

  2. Serve the shrimp mixture on toast.

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

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

  2. Cream + saucetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,787 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Shrimp + buttertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,931 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).

  4. Peas + sherrytop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together171 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

  5. Butter + sherrytop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,505 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

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 savory flavor of the filling.
Peas
Add sweetness, color and soft texture to the filling.
Cream sauce
Adds moisture and a creamy body that binds the filling together.
Sherry
Adds optional aroma and a mildly sweet, winey note just before serving.

The step that matters

Let the mixture boil once. A cream sauce can split, scorch or turn grainy if it is overheated or boiled too long. Bringing it to a single boil and then serving promptly keeps the sauce smooth and cohesive.

Swap the peas

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (shrimp, butter, cream, sauce, sherry):

  1. Almondfits better
  2. Sesamefits better
  3. Beansfits better
  4. Peasthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against shrimp, butter, cream, sauce, sherry. 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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