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Salad

Shrimp Salad

A chilled salad of shrimp mixed with mayonnaise, served with lettuce and either celery or cucumber.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Celery and lettuce match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,033 recipes. Both carry nonanal, which smells fat, citrus. The science ↓

Shrimp Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. If using canned shrimps, remove from can, wash, and chill in ice water.

  2. Chop an equal portion of celery or cucumber.

Assemble and serve

  1. If using cucumber, scoop out the pulp and fill the cucumber boats with the shrimp mixture.

  2. Add 1 tablespoon of mayonnaise just before serving.

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. Celery + lettucetop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,033 recipes

    Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

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

    Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

  3. Shrimp + celerytop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together812 recipes

    Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

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

What each ingredient does

Shrimp
Provides the main protein and the bulk of the salad.
Mayonnaise
Adds fat and moisture, binding the salad and giving it a creamy texture.
Celery or cucumber
Adds crisp texture and fresh, mild flavour that contrasts with the shrimp.

The step that matters

Add 1 tablespoon of mayonnaise just before serving. Mayonnaise added too early can thin out or separate as the salad sits, especially with watery vegetables like cucumber. Adding it last keeps the dressing creamy and the vegetables crisp.

Swap the celery

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

  1. Capersfits better
  2. Tarragonfits better
  3. Garlicfits better
  4. Celerythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against shrimp, 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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