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Shrimp Salad

This recipe uses a raw egg yolk.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Lettuce and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,037 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Shrimp Salad

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Prepare 1 quart of shrimp as directed in the shrimp sauce recipe.

  2. Wash 2 heads of fresh lettuce and shake off excess water.

  3. Arrange the lettuce in a salad bowl.

  4. Place the shrimp in a small heap in the center of the lettuce.

  5. In a bowl, stir 1 raw egg yolk with a fork and gradually mix in oil until a thick paste forms.

  6. Slowly mix in enough vinegar to thin the mixture, then continue adding oil and vinegar while stirring gently until the desired quantity of mayonnaise is achieved.

  7. Use 1 part vinegar for every 3 parts oil.

  8. Season the mayonnaise with salt and pepper, then pour it over the salad.

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 + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,037 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

    Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

  5. Shrimp + peppertop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,692 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylethanol (rose, floral).

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

Swap the lettuce

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Mustardfits better
  3. Asparagusfits better
  4. Lettucethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against shrimp, egg, vinegar, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

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