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Aspic of Shbimps Ob Prawns

Aspic of shrimp or prawns is a chilled jelly dish with shrimp, salad, and flavored jelly.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Lettuce and mustard match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,356 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Aspic of Shbimps Ob Prawns

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the shrimp and salad

  1. Pick a quart of shrimp, reserving the largest for the dish and setting aside broken pieces for sauce.

  2. Toss the shrimp in oil and vinegar to coat them.

  3. Chop the amber-colored jelly.

  4. Prepare the green salad by finely slicing or chopping the lettuce, cress, and mustard or celery tops, then season with oil, vinegar, and salt.

Assemble the dishes

  1. Place a spoonful of the green salad in each small dish to form a border.

  2. In the center of each dish, add a spoonful of chopped jelly, then top with a spoonful of shrimp.

  3. Dredge additional chopped jelly over the dish using a fork.

  4. Melt some jelly and mix in pepper sauce, clear sauce, and a drop of red food coloring.

  5. Arrange the shrimp closely on a large platter and pour just enough jelly over to hold them together, then refrigerate until set.

Serve

  1. When ready to serve, cut the jelly with shrimp into shapes and serve with a green salad border.

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. Lettuce + mustardtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,356 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,430 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Lettuce + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,037 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Mustard + saucetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,120 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

Shrimps
Provide the main protein and the shrimp pieces that give the aspic its body and flavor.
Amber-colored jelly
Sets around the shrimp so the dish holds its shape when cut.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the shrimp and the green salad.
Oil
Adds fat and carries flavor across the shrimp and the salad.
Green lettuce
Forms the crisp green salad border and adds fresh texture.

The step that matters

Pour just enough jelly over the shrimp. Too much liquid jelly floods the shrimp and spoils the layered look, while too little leaves gaps that will not hold the pieces together once set. Chill until fully firm before cutting.

Swap the lettuce

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (shrimp, vinegar, mustard, pepper, sauce):

  1. Horseradishfits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Shallotfits about as well
  4. Lettucethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against shrimp, vinegar, mustard, pepper, sauce. 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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