Name: Scalloped Prawns or Shrimp
Ingredients: 1 quart prawns or large shrimp, boiled and shelled; 1 quart dried bread crumbs; ½ cup vinegar; ⅓ cup tomato catsup; 4 tablespoons butter; Salt and pepper to taste

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 ↓

Scalloped Prawns or Shrimp

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

Assemble

In an earthen dish, layer the prawns or shrimp, bread crumbs, vinegar, tomato catsup, and butter.
Season each layer with salt and pepper, finishing with a top layer of bread crumbs.

Bake and serve

Bake for 20 minutes.
Serve hot in the baking dish or in individual scallop shells.

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).
Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,923 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Bread + tomatotop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,013 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Shrimp + buttertop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,931 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,814 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Prawns or shrimp: Provide the main protein and substance of the dish.
Dried bread crumbs: Absorb the liquids and give the dish its body and texture.
Vinegar: Adds sharpness that brightens the rich, buttery layers.
Tomato catsup: Adds sweetness, acidity and color to the layers.
Butter: Adds fat and richness, and helps the top layer brown in the oven.

Swap the tomato

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

Capsicumfits better
Tomatothe original
Potatofits about as well
Mustardfits about as well

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