Why it works: Coriander and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,498 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓
Shrimp Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Put the shrimps in a stew pan with enough stock to heat them.
Add melted butter, anchovy essence, coriander, and lemon pickle.
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.
-
Coriander + lemontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,498 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
-
Shrimp + anchovytop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together440 recipes
Shared aroma: hexanol (green, fruity).
-
Shrimp + buttertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,931 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
-
Butter + anchovytop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,697 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
-
Anchovy + lemontop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,080 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Shrimps
- Provide the main flavour and body of the sauce.
- Melted butter
- Adds richness and a smooth, silky mouthfeel to the sauce.
- Lemon pickle
- Adds sharp acidity that brightens the sauce.
Swap the coriander
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (shrimp, butter, anchovy, lemon):
- Capersfits better
- Parsleyfits better
- Thymefits better
- Corianderthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against shrimp, butter, anchovy, lemon. 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.
You might also like
The free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.
Hot Lemon Cream Sauce11 recipes
Wine Sauce (for stewed fruit)186 recipes
Caper Sauce180 recipes
Brown Sauce141 recipes