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Devilled Shrimps

Shrimp that are floured, fried in hot fat until crisp, and seasoned with cayenne pepper and parsley.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Devilled Shrimps

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Wash the shrimps and dry them.

  2. Toss the shrimps in a little flour.

Fry and serve

  1. Fry the shrimps in hot fat for 3 to 4 minutes until crisp.

  2. Drain well on paper towels.

  3. Sprinkle lightly with cayenne pepper and garnish with parsley.

  4. 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.

  1. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Flour + parsleytop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together16,675 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Flour + peppertop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together50,459 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Shrimp + parsleytop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,723 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyraldehyde (malty, chocolate).

  5. Shrimp + peppertop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,692 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylethanol (rose, floral).

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

What each ingredient does

Shrimps
Provide the main protein, which cooks quickly and turns firm and opaque when fried.
Flour
Forms a light coating that helps the shrimps brown and crisp in the hot fat.
Cayenne pepper
Adds heat and a sharp, spicy flavour that defines the devilled style.

The step that matters

Drying the shrimps before flouring. Surface moisture makes the flour clump and steams the shrimps instead of letting the coating crisp in the hot fat. Patting them fully dry lets the coating brown and stay crisp.

Swap the parsley

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

  1. Jalapenofits better
  2. Turmericfits better
  3. Parsleythe original
  4. Garlicfits about as well

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

“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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