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Quenelles of Prawns

Prawn quenelles are small, poached dumplings made from prawns, bread crumbs, eggs, and anchovy sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Anchovy and sauce are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,057 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Quenelles of Prawns

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Soak the bread crumbs in stock.

  2. Mix the prawns, soaked bread crumbs, eggs, salt, pepper, and anchovy sauce until well blended.

  3. Form tiny olive-shaped quenelles using two teaspoons.

Poach and serve

  1. Poach the quenelles in boiling stock or water for about 5 minutes.

  2. Drain the quenelles and add them to the soup just 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. Anchovy + saucetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Bread + anchovytop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,260 recipes

    Shared aroma: hexanol (green, fruity).

  3. Egg + anchovytop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,330 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  5. Bread + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,964 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Cooked prawns
Provide the main body and flavour of the quenelles.
Bread crumbs
Soak up liquid and help keep the quenelles soft and tender.
Eggs
Bind the mixture so the quenelles hold their shape while poaching.

The step that matters

Poach the quenelles gently in boiling stock or water. Once the quenelles are formed, they must cook in simmering liquid just long enough to set. Overcooking toughens the egg proteins and makes them rubbery, while a rolling boil can break them apart.

“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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