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 ↓
Shrimp Egg
Ingredients
Directions
Cut a small slice from each end of the hard-boiled egg and cut it in half lengthwise.
Peel the shrimps and pound them in a mortar with the yolk of the egg, butter, and pepper.
Fill the egg whites with the shrimp mixture and garnish with small salad.
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.
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Shrimp + buttertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,931 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
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Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together85,593 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Shrimp + peppertop 24% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,692 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylethanol (rose, floral).
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Egg + shrimptop 26% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,829 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-heptenal (green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Hard-boiled egg
- Provides the edible shell-like vessel and the yolk that binds the shrimp filling.
- Shrimps
- Supply the main savoury filling, providing flavour and a tender texture.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness, helping the pounded yolk and shrimp mixture become 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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