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Shrimp Balls

Shrimp Balls are small shrimp-based meatballs cooked in tomato sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Shrimp Balls

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the shrimp balls

  1. Chop the raw shrimp very fine.

  2. In a bowl, combine shrimp, bread crumbs, 1 cup of tomatoes, salt, cayenne pepper, and eggs.

  3. Form the mixture into balls.

Fry and simmer in sauce

  1. In a skillet, melt the butter and fry the shrimp balls until golden.

  2. Add browned flour and the remaining tomatoes to the skillet.

  3. Let the balls cook in the sauce for about 1 hour.

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. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  2. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

  3. Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

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

  4. Tomato + oniontop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,633 recipes

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

  5. Parsley + tomatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,398 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

Shrimp
Provides the main protein and the body of the balls once chopped and bound together.
Eggs
Bind the chopped shrimp and crumbs so the balls hold their shape while cooking.
Fresh bread crumbs
Absorb moisture and soften the mixture, keeping the balls tender rather than dense.
Tomatoes
Form the sauce the balls simmer in, adding moisture and acidity to the dish.
Browned flour
Thickens the tomato sauce and adds a toasted, nutty flavour.

The step that matters

Frying the shrimp balls until golden. Searing the outside in butter builds color and a firm crust that helps the balls hold their shape when they simmer in the sauce. Pale, under-fried balls may crumble or stay soft.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Okrafits better
  3. Potatofits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against shrimp, parsley, bread, butter, tomato, flour, 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.

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