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Shrimps in Aspic

A chilled appetizer of shrimps set in aspic jelly with green butter and garden cress.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and shrimp are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,931 recipes. Both carry 2,6-nonadienal, which smells cucumber, green. The science ↓

Shrimps in Aspic

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the molds

  1. Line small molds with aspic jelly.

  2. Place 3 shrimps and a little green butter in each mold.

  3. Fill the molds with more butter.

  4. Allow the molds to set.

Assemble and serve

  1. Put washed cress into small paper cases.

  2. Add 1 teaspoon of mayonnaise sauce to each paper case.

  3. Turn out the molds.

  4. Place one mold on each paper case.

  5. Garnish with remaining butter.

  6. Garnish with chopped jelly.

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 + shrimptop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,931 recipes

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

  2. Butter + saucetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together15,338 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Shrimp + saucetop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,423 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Garden cress + saucetop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Butter + garden cresstop 28% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together26 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

Aspic jelly
Sets into a clear, firm jelly that holds the shrimps and butter in shape.
Green butter
Adds richness and flavor and fills the molds with a smooth, fatty layer.
Shrimps
Provide the main seafood flavor and visible centerpiece of each mold.
Mayonnaise sauce
Adds creamy richness and moisture to the base under each mold.

The step that matters

Allow the molds to set. Aspic must cool and firm fully before turning out; if it is too warm or not set, the molds will lose shape or collapse and the layers will blur.

Swap the garden cress

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

  1. Capersfits better
  2. Garlicfits better
  3. Parsleyfits better
  4. Garden cressthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, shrimp, 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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