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Salad

Shrimps

A salad of shrimps dressed with an egg yolk, salad oil, vinegar, and white pepper, garnished with lettuce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Vinegar and lettuce are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,370 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Shrimps

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Dry the shrimps on a towel without crushing the leaves.

  2. Cut the lettuce into moderate-sized pieces and place in a salad bowl.

  3. Remove any shell pieces from the shrimps and pile them on top of the lettuce.

Make the dressing

  1. In a bowl, whisk the yolks of two eggs and gradually add the salad oil until thick.

  2. Stir in the vinegar and white pepper, heating until well blended.

Assemble and serve

  1. Pour the dressing over the shrimps and garnish with reserved lettuce leaves.

  2. Serve immediately.

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. Vinegar + lettucetop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,370 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Shrimp + lettucetop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together430 recipes

    Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

  3. Vinegar + white peppertop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,154 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Egg + white peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,312 recipes

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

  5. Shrimp + vinegartop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together862 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-methylbutanol (malty, whiskey).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Egg yolks emulsify with the oil, thickening the dressing into a creamy, stable sauce.
Salad oil
Forms the body of the dressing, adding richness and a smooth mouthfeel as it is whisked in.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the dressing and balances the richness of the oil and yolks.
Shrimps
Provide the main protein and mild sweet flavour of the salad.

The step that matters

Adding the salad oil to the yolks. Oil must be added slowly while whisking, so the yolks can emulsify it. Adding it too fast causes the dressing to break and separate instead of becoming thick.

Swap the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (shrimp, egg, vinegar, lettuce):

  1. Tarragonfits better
  2. Capersfits better
  3. Dillfits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against shrimp, egg, vinegar, lettuce. 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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