Name: Mayonnaise of Celery and Shrimps
Ingredients: 2 dozen shrimps; 3 boiled egg yolks; 1 tablespoon butter; 1 tablespoon oil; 1 tablespoon vinegar; Salt and pepper to taste; Chopped whites of 3 boiled eggs; 1 bunch celery, cut into strips; 1 tablespoon sliced pickles

Why it works: Pepper and celery match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 16,012 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Mayonnaise of Celery and Shrimps

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the shrimp

Boil the shrimps until cooked, then peel and set aside to cool.

Make the dressing

In a bowl, mash the yolks of the boiled eggs with butter, oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper.
Add the chopped egg whites, celery strips, and sliced pickles to the mixture.

Assemble and chill

Pour the mixture over the shrimps and refrigerate until ready to serve.

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.

Pepper + celerytop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together16,012 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Shrimp + buttertop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,931 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,814 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Vinegar + celerytop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,627 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together118,967 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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, mild sweetness and tender bite of the salad.
Boiled egg yolks: Mash into a creamy base that binds the dressing and gives it richness.
Butter: Adds fat and richness that carries flavour and softens the dressing.
Vinegar: Adds acidity that brightens the rich yolk mixture and balances its fat.
Celery: Contributes crisp texture and fresh, slightly savoury crunch against the soft shrimp.
Pickles: Add acidity and tang that cut through the creamy dressing.

Swap the celery

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

Tarragonfits better
Parsleyfits better
Dillfits better
Celerythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against shrimp, egg, butter, vinegar, pepper. 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.