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Shrimps Stewed

A creamy stew of shrimps simmered with butter, flour, milk, water, celery seed, nutmeg, salt, pepper, and egg yolks.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Celery and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 16,012 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Shrimps Stewed

Ingredients

Directions

Make the sauce

  1. Mix butter and flour together in a stew pan and fry for 1 minute.

  2. Stir in the hot milk and water, and bring to a boil.

  3. Add celery seed, nutmeg, salt, and pepper, then add the shrimps.

Finish and serve

  1. Heat the shrimps until hot but not boiling.

  2. Beat the yolks with 2 tablespoons of milk and stir them in.

  3. Remove from heat when scalding hot; do not let it boil.

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. Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

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

  2. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Nutmeg + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

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

  4. Celery + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,331 recipes

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

  5. Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,623 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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 bulk of the dish.
Fresh butter
Enriches the sauce and carries flavour through the stew.
Flour
Thickens the milk and water into a smooth sauce.
Fresh egg yolks
Enrich and thicken the sauce, giving it body and richness.
Milk
Forms the creamy base of the sauce, adding richness and sweetness.

The step that matters

Remove from heat when scalding hot; do not let it boil.. Egg yolks added to the sauce thicken it as they heat, but boiling can curdle them, leaving the sauce grainy and separated.

Swap the celery

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

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Parsleyfits better
  3. Cardamomfits better
  4. Celerythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against shrimp, butter, flour, milk, nutmeg, pepper, 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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