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Shrimps, Potted Whole

Whole shrimps are seasoned, baked with butter, then packed in jars with melted butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 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 ↓

Shrimps, Potted Whole

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Prepare

  1. Place the shrimps in a dish.

  2. Sprinkle salt, white pepper, and nutmeg over the shrimps.

  3. Dot the shrimps with small pieces of butter.

Bake and set

  1. Bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven until the butter melts, about 10 minutes.

  2. Let the shrimps cool.

  3. Pack the shrimps into jars and pour melted butter over them, just starting to set.

  4. Store the jars in a cool place until needed.

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. White pepper + nutmegtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,375 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Nutmeg + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together24,377 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  4. Shrimp + nutmegtop 27% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together416 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  5. White pepper + buttertop 28% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,814 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

What each ingredient does

Shrimps
Provide the main protein and the bulk of the dish.
Butter
Adds richness and a smooth fat that seals the shrimps from air.

The step that matters

Pouring the melted butter over the packed shrimps. The butter must be warm enough to pour but only just beginning to set. If it is too hot, it sinks and leaves the shrimps greasy; if it has set fully, it leaves gaps where air can reach the shrimp and cause spoilage.

Swap the white pepper

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

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Parsleyfits better
  3. Clovefits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against shrimp, nutmeg, butter. 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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