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Salad

Shrimp Salad

A salad of lettuce topped with canned shrimp and a dressing of egg yolk, oil, vinegar, salt, and white pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Lettuce and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,370 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Shrimp Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Trim, wash, and dry the lettuce without crushing the leaves.

  2. Tear the outer leaves into medium-sized pieces.

  3. Reserve the tender inner leaves for garnishing.

  4. Place the torn lettuce in the bottom of a salad bowl.

  5. Carefully remove the shrimps from the can, checking for any shell bits or black specks, and arrange them on top of the lettuce.

Make the dressing

  1. In a small bowl, combine the egg yolks and gradually add the salad oil while beating until thick.

  2. Stir in the vinegar, salt, and white pepper until well blended.

Assemble and serve

  1. Pour the dressing over the shrimps and garnish with the reserved inner leaves of lettuce.

  2. Do not mix the salad until serving to maintain the appearance of the shrimps.

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. Lettuce + vinegartop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,370 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Shrimp + lettucetop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together430 recipes

    Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

  3. Vinegar + white peppertop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,154 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. White pepper + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,312 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyraldehyde (malty, chocolate).

  5. Shrimp + vinegartop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together862 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-methylbutanol (malty, whiskey).

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

What each ingredient does

Egg yolks
Emulsify the oil and vinegar into a thick, creamy dressing.
Salad oil
Provides fat and richness, carrying flavor through the dressing.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the dressing and balances the oil.
Lettuce
Forms the crisp, leafy base that holds the shrimp and dressing.
Shrimps
Provide the main protein and seafood flavor of the salad.

The step that matters

Beating the oil into the egg yolks. Oil must be added slowly while beating so it emulsifies into the yolks; adding it too fast causes the dressing to separate and stay thin rather than thick.

Swap the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (shrimp, lettuce, vinegar, egg):

  1. Tarragonfits better
  2. Capersfits better
  3. Dillfits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against shrimp, lettuce, vinegar, egg. 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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