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Creamed Shrimps on Toast

A creamy shrimp mixture served over toasted bread.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and bread 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 ↓

Creamed Shrimps on Toast

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Wash and drain the shrimps or shell the fresh ones.

Make the cream sauce

  1. In a saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat.

  2. Add the flour and stir until smooth, but do not brown.

  3. Pour in the milk and bring to a boil, stirring constantly.

  4. Season with pepper, then add the shrimps.

  5. Reduce heat and let the mixture heat through.

Serve

  1. Pour the creamed shrimps over toasted bread.

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. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

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

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

  3. Milk + breadtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,466 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

  4. Shrimp + buttertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,931 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).

  5. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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 flavor of the creamed filling.
Butter
Adds richness and flavor to the roux base.
Flour
Thickens the milk into a smooth, creamy sauce when cooked with the butter.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the sauce, which thickens as it heats.

The step that matters

Stirring the flour into the butter and milk. Stirring the flour until smooth and not browned keeps the sauce pale and lump-free. Stirring the milk constantly as it comes to a boil prevents scorching on the pan bottom and helps the starch thicken evenly.

“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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