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Salad

Tomato and Shrimp Salad

A salad of peeled tomatoes filled with shrimp mixed with mayonnaise dressing, served on lettuce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Tomato and lettuce are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,655 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Tomato and Shrimp Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the tomatoes

  1. Peel the tomatoes, cut them in half and scoop out the seeds.

  2. Chill the shrimp and tomatoes on ice until thoroughly cooled.

Assemble and serve

  1. Mix the shrimp with the Mayonnaise Dressing.

  2. Fill the tomato shells with the shrimp mixture.

  3. Place each filled tomato on a crisp lettuce leaf.

  4. Serve with additional dressing.

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. Tomato + lettucetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,655 recipes

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

  2. Tomato + shrimptop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,689 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  3. Shrimp + lettucetop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together430 recipes

    Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

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

What each ingredient does

Large smooth tomatoes
Form the hollow shells that hold the shrimp filling and provide a juicy, fresh base.
Shrimp
Supply the main protein and a mild, savoury body to the filling.
Mayonnaise dressing
Binds the shrimp together and adds richness and moisture to the filling.
Crisp lettuce leaves
Give a cool, crisp contrast and a base that holds each filled tomato.

The step that matters

Chill the shrimp and tomatoes on ice until thoroughly cooled. Cold ingredients keep the mayonnaise-based dressing stable and prevent it from thinning or separating. Chilling also keeps the filling firm and food-safe before serving.

Swap the lettuce

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, shrimp):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, shrimp. 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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