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Shrimps, Stewed

A stew of fresh shrimp simmered in a sauce of wine, water, vinegar, spices, and butter, served over toasted bread.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Shrimps, Stewed

Ingredients

Directions

Make the stock

  1. Boil the shrimp shells and heads in light wine, water, vinegar, salt, cayenne, and mace for 20 minutes.

  2. Strain the liquid and let it sit for a few minutes to settle.

  3. Pour off the clear liquid.

  4. Return the liquid to the saucepan.

Make the sauce and shrimp

  1. Thicken the liquid with flour and butter.

  2. Add the shrimp and simmer until heated through, avoiding boiling.

Toast and serve

  1. Toast the bread.

  2. Cut the toasted bread into small squares.

  3. Place the bread squares on a dish.

  4. Pour the shrimp and sauce over the bread.

  5. Serve hot.

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. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

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

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

  3. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Wine + vinegartop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,493 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  5. Wine + buttertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,645 recipes

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

Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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

Shrimp
Provides the main protein and flavour, with shells and heads adding savoury depth to the stock.
Flour
Thickens the cooking liquid into a sauce as it heats with the butter.
Butter
Adds richness and fat to the sauce and helps it thicken smoothly with the flour.
Light wine
Adds acidity and aroma to the stock that the shrimp shells are simmered in.

The step that matters

Add the shrimp and simmer until heated through, avoiding boiling. Shrimp cook quickly and turn tough and rubbery when overheated. Gentle simmering heats them through while keeping them tender.

Swap the mace

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

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

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