Name: Crayfish, Shrimp, or Prawn Patties
Ingredients: 4 oz. shrimp or crayfish, shelled; 6 oz. short pastry; butter for greasing; rice for filling

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 ↓

Crayfish, Shrimp, or Prawn Patties

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

4 oz. shrimp or crayfish, shelled
6 oz. short pastry
butter for greasing
rice for filling

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Line small deep patty tins with short pastry.
Grease the pastry with butter and line with buttered paper.
Fill the tins with rice and bake until the pastry is set.
Chop the cooked shrimp or crayfish into small dice.
Stir the chopped seafood into a sauce and heat gently without boiling.
Remove the paper and rice from the pastry cases.
Fill the cases with the seafood mixture and serve hot.

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).
Shrimp + ricetop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,055 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-methylbutanol (malty, whiskey).
Butter + ricetop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,645 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).