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Shrimp Pie

A baked pie filled with seasoned shrimp, wine, and fish stock, topped with puff pastry.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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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 Pie

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. Pick the shrimps and season them with cayenne, pounded mace, coarse sea salt, and vinegar or lemon juice.

  3. Butter a pie dish generously and line the edges with puff pastry.

Assemble and bake

  1. Place the seasoned shrimps in the dish, then pour over the light wine and fish stock.

  2. Cover with puff pastry.

  3. Bake for 45 minutes.

  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. Shrimp + buttertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,931 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).

  2. Butter + fishtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,488 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Vinegar + winetop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,493 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  4. Shrimp + fishtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together252 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  5. Butter + winetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,645 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).

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

What each ingredient does

Picked shrimps
Provide the main filling and protein that sets the body of the pie.
Puff pastry
Forms a flaky, crisp crust that browns in the oven.
Butter
Adds richness and helps the pastry brown and crisp.
Fish stock
Adds savory liquid that moistens the shrimp filling as it bakes.
Light wine
Adds acidity and aroma that brighten the seafood flavor.

The step that matters

Covering the pie with pastry. The pastry must seal the dish fully so the liquid and shrimp steam inside while the top bakes and browns, rather than drying out or leaking.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (shrimp, pepper, vinegar, butter, wine, fish):

  1. Tarragonfits better
  2. Garlicfits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against shrimp, pepper, vinegar, butter, wine, fish. 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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