Name: Shrimp Canapes
Ingredients: ½ pint picked shrimps; 1 egg yolk; 1 tablespoon cream; a pinch of nutmeg; cayenne pepper to taste; salt to taste; garnish of lobster coral or coralline pepper

Why it works: Cream and lobster are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,050 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-one, which smells mushroom, metallic. The science ↓

Shrimp Canapes

Ingredients

Directions

In a small saucepan, combine the cream, cayenne pepper, and nutmeg.
Add the picked shrimps and mix thoroughly.
Spread the mixture on rounds of buttered toast.
Garnish with lobster coral or coralline pepper 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.

Cream + lobstertop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,050 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Nutmeg + peppertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together13,015 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Shrimp + lobstertop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together403 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
Cream + nutmegtop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together7,920 recipes

Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Egg + nutmegtop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together24,744 recipes

Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Egg and nutmeg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 24,744 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

Swap the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (shrimp, egg, cream, pepper, lobster):

Nutmegthe original
Tarragonfits about as well
Parsleyfits about as well
Capersfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against shrimp, egg, cream, pepper, lobster. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.