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Shrimp Pie

A baked pie filled with seasoned shrimp, wine, and gravy, topped with puff pastry.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Shrimp and butter 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 ↓

Shrimp Pie

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Pick the shrimps and season them with cayenne, pounded mace, coarse sea salt, and vinegar or lemon pickle.

  2. If desired, add a small amount of essence of anchovies.

  3. Butter a pie dish generously.

Assemble and bake

  1. Line the edges of the dish with puff pastry.

  2. Place the seasoned shrimps in the dish.

  3. Pour the light wine and rich gravy over the shrimps.

  4. Cover the dish with puff pastry.

  5. Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) for about 45 minutes.

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. Shrimp + buttertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,931 recipes

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

  2. Vinegar + winetop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,493 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  3. Butter + winetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,645 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).

  4. Pepper + vinegartop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

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

  5. Pepper + macetop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together12,257 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

Pepper and mace barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 12,257 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

Shrimps
Form the main filling and provide the seafood flavour and tender texture when cooked.
Puff pastry
Forms a flaky, crisp crust that browns in the oven and encloses the filling.
Rich gravy
Adds moisture and savoury depth so the shrimps do not dry out while baking.
Light wine
Adds moisture and a bright aroma that blends into the sauce as it bakes.
Butter
Greases the dish so the pastry releases cleanly and adds richness to the base.

The step that matters

Cover and seal the dish with pastry before baking. A tight pastry lid traps steam so the shrimps cook in their own juices and gravy rather than drying out. Leaving gaps lets moisture escape and the filling can turn dry.

Swap the mace

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

  1. Garlicfits better
  2. Tarragonfits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. Macethe original

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