Name: Shrimp Toast
Ingredients: slices of bread; shrimp butter; shelled shrimp tails; capers or gherkins

Why it works: Bread and butter 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 ↓

Shrimp Toast

Ingredients

slices of bread
shrimp butter
shelled shrimp tails
capers or gherkins

Directions

Cut the slices of bread into round or square shapes.
Spread shrimp butter evenly over the toast.
Garnish with a border of shelled shrimp tails.
Place a caper or gherkin in the center.

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.

Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,232 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Shrimp + buttertop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,931 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
Shrimp + caperstop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together179 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyraldehyde (malty, chocolate).
Bread + caperstop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together307 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Butter + caperstop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,637 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).