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Shrimp Salad

A chilled salad of shrimp, cabbage, celery, onion, and a creamy mustard dressing served over lettuce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Celery and mustard are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,169 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Shrimp Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the shrimp

  1. Remove shrimp from the can or use fresh shrimp.

  2. Cover with boiling water.

  3. Let stand until cool.

  4. Drain and place on ice.

  5. When shrimp is cold, break it into small pieces.

Prepare the vegetables

  1. Shave cabbage very fine.

  2. Cut cabbage across into short pieces.

  3. Cut celery very fine.

  4. Chop onion.

  5. Place celery and onion on ice.

  6. Add shrimp to the other ingredients.

  7. Toss all together with a fork.

Make the dressing

  1. Mix mustard with sugar, salt, and pepper.

  2. Gradually add vinegar, stirring until smooth.

  3. Pour mixture over egg yolks and beat well.

  4. Cook bowl in a dish of hot water, stirring constantly until thick.

  5. When cold, thin dressing with 1 cup of cream.

  6. Add extract of celery.

  7. Mix dressing with shrimp and cabbage.

  8. Serve on lettuce.

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. Celery + mustardtop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,169 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  2. Cabbage + mustardtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,645 recipes

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

  3. Onion + mustardtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,259 recipes

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

  4. Cabbage + celerytop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,840 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  5. Onion + celerytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,518 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Egg yolks
Thicken the dressing as they cook and bind it into a smooth, rich custard.
Cream
Thins the cooked dressing and adds richness and a smooth mouthfeel.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that sharpens the dressing and balances the sugar and yolk richness.
Sugar
Balances the sharpness of the vinegar and mustard with gentle sweetness.
Cabbage
Provides crisp, fresh texture and bulk to the salad.

The step that matters

Cook the dressing over hot water while stirring constantly. Egg yolks thicken as they heat, but if they get too hot they scramble into lumps. Gentle, constant stirring over hot water heats them evenly so the dressing turns smooth and thick.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (shrimp, cabbage, celery, egg, vinegar, mustard, sugar):

  1. Horseradishfits better
  2. Lettucefits better
  3. Broccolifits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against shrimp, cabbage, celery, egg, vinegar, mustard, sugar. 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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