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Shrimp Salad

Shrimp salad with a vinaigrette dressing made from eggs, oil, vinegar, mustard, salt, and pepper, served with celery or lettuce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Mustard and celery are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,169 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Shrimp Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Make the dressing

  1. In a saucepan, beat the egg whites, then add the yolks.

  2. Slowly add the salad oil while stirring.

  3. Add salt, pepper, vinegar, and mustard; stir until thickened.

Assemble and serve

  1. Wash and cut the shrimp in halves.

  2. Let the dressing cool, then pour it over the shrimp.

  3. Add celery or finely cut lettuce before serving.

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. Mustard + celerytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,169 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  2. Pepper + celerytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

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

  3. Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Pepper + mustardtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,430 recipes

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

  5. Pepper + vinegartop 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

Shrimp
Forms the main body of the salad and carries the dressing.
Eggs
Their yolks emulsify the oil and vinegar, giving the dressing a thick, creamy body.
Salad oil
Adds richness and fat, which keeps the dressing smooth and silky.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the dressing and balances the richness of the oil and yolks.
Mustard
Helps hold the emulsion together and adds a sharp, aromatic bite.

The step that matters

Adding the oil slowly while stirring. Oil must be incorporated gradually so the yolks can emulsify it. Adding it too fast causes the dressing to split and stay thin or greasy instead of thickening.

Swap the celery

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

  1. Tarragonfits better
  2. Dillfits better
  3. Capersfits better
  4. Celerythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against shrimp, egg, pepper, vinegar, mustard. 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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