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Shrimp a LA Newburg

A shrimp dish cooked with butter, cayenne pepper, optional truffles, Sherry or Madeira, eggs, and cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Shrimp a LA Newburg

Ingredients

Directions

Make the shrimp base

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

  2. Add the shrimp, cayenne pepper, and truffles; cook for 5 minutes.

  3. Stir in the Sherry or Madeira and cook for an additional 3 minutes.

Finish the sauce

  1. In a bowl, beat the eggs and cream together until well combined.

  2. Stir the shrimp mixture into the egg and cream mixture.

  3. Let it simmer gently, without boiling, until it thickens.

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 + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

  2. Butter + truffletop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,209 recipes

    Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

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

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

  4. Butter + sherrytop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,505 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  5. Shrimp + sherrytop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together243 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Thicken the cream into a custard-like sauce when gently heated.
Cream
Adds richness and moisture, and combines with the eggs to form a smooth sauce.
Shrimp
Provides the main protein and body of the dish.
Sherry or madeira
Adds aromatic depth and a subtle sweetness to the sauce.

The step that matters

Let it simmer gently, without boiling, until it thickens. Egg proteins set and thicken the cream as they heat, but if the mixture boils they can curdle and turn grainy. Gentle heat keeps the sauce smooth.

“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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