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Prawn Canapes

Small rolls filled with anchovy, prawn, gherkin, truffle, and celery mixture, topped with aspic jelly.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Truffle and sauce are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 22% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,490 recipes. The science ↓

Prawn Canapes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut the rolls in half and scoop out the crumb, letting the crusts dry completely.

  2. Fillet the anchovies and cut them into neat pieces.

  3. Chop the gherkins, truffles, and celery.

Assemble and serve

  1. Combine the anchovies, prawns, gherkins, truffles, and celery in a bowl with a little Tabtab Sauce.

  2. Fill the crusts of the rolls with the mixture.

  3. Cover with thin circular pieces of aspic jelly and serve on a napkin.

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. Truffle + saucetop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,490 recipes
  2. Celery + saucetop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,360 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Truffle + celerytop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together263 recipes

    Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

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

What each ingredient does

Rolls
Their hollowed crusts form the edible case that holds the filling.
Anchovies
Contribute a salty, savoury flavour that seasons the prawn filling.
Picked prawns
Provide the main protein and delicate sweet flavour of the filling.
Aspic jelly
Sets into a clear glaze that covers and protects the filling.

The step that matters

Letting the crusts dry completely. Damp crusts soften quickly when filled, turning the roll soggy. Fully dried bread stays crisp and holds its shape against the moist prawn mixture.

Swap the celery

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

  1. Capersfits better
  2. Tarragonfits better
  3. Garlicfits about as well
  4. Celerythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against truffle, 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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