Why it works: Tomato and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,923 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Baked Shrimps
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Butter a deep dish.
Layer pounded biscuits on the bottom.
Add a layer of boiled shrimps.
Spread a layer of stewed tomatoes mixed with a little butter, pepper, and salt.
Add a thinner layer of pounded biscuits followed by another layer of shrimps.
Repeat layering until you have 3 or 4 layers, finishing with a layer of biscuits.
Bake until the top is golden brown.
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.
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Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,923 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Butter + shrimptop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,931 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
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Biscuit + peppertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together841 recipes
Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
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Biscuit + shrimptop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together38 recipes
Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
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Shrimp + tomatotop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,689 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the tomato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, biscuit, shrimp, pepper):
- Chivefits better
- Potatofits better
- Capsicumfits better
- Tomatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, biscuit, shrimp, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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