Name: To Pot Prawns, Shrimps, and River Crayfish
Ingredients: tail portions of prawns, shrimps, or river crayfish; 2 tablespoons melted butter; ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper; ¼ teaspoon black pepper; ¼ teaspoon coarse sea salt; a pinch of bruised mace; clarified butter for covering

Why it works: Shrimp and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,931 recipes. Both carry 2,6-nonadienal, which smells cucumber, green. The science ↓

To Pot Prawns, Shrimps, and River Crayfish

Ingredients

tail portions of prawns, shrimps, or river crayfish
2 tablespoons melted butter
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
¼ teaspoon black pepper
¼ teaspoon coarse sea salt
a pinch of bruised mace
clarified butter for covering

Directions

Prepare

Extract the tail portions from the shells.
Bruise the tails and mix with melted butter, cayenne pepper, black pepper, coarse sea salt, and bruised mace.
If there is any coral or spawn, mix it in with the other parts.

Pot and cover

Place the mixture in pots and pour clarified butter over it.
Alternatively, pound the extracted parts in a mortar, mix with butter, season, and cover with clarified butter in pots.

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.

Shrimp + buttertop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,931 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
Pepper + macetop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together12,257 recipes

Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together85,593 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Butter + macetop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together11,405 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Shrimp + peppertop 24% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,692 recipes

Shared aroma: phenylethanol (rose, floral).

Pepper and mace barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 12,257 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Tail portions of prawns, shrimps, or river crayfish: Provide the main shellfish flavour and the meat that makes up the pot.
Melted butter: Carries the seasoning and adds richness and moisture to the shellfish.
Clarified butter: Covers the mixture to seal it from air, preserving it and adding a rich layer of fat.