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Shrimp Toast

A toast topped with a shrimp and egg mixture flavored with anchovy paste.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Shrimp Toast

Ingredients

Directions

Make the shrimp mixture

  1. Melt the butter in a saucepan.

  2. Add the shrimps and heat until hot.

  3. In a bowl, beat together the egg and milk, then add to the shrimp mixture.

  4. Season with salt and cayenne, stirring until the mixture thickens.

Assemble and serve

  1. Spread the toast lightly with anchovy paste.

  2. Top the toast with the shrimp 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.

  1. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  2. Shrimp + anchovytop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together440 recipes

    Shared aroma: hexanol (green, fruity).

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

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

  4. Anchovy + eggtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,330 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Anchovy + buttertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,697 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

What each ingredient does

Shrimps
Provide the main savoury filling and flavour of the topping.
Egg
Thickens the shrimp mixture as it heats, giving it a creamy, spreadable body.
Butter
Adds richness and carries flavour when the shrimps are heated.
Anchovy paste
Adds a salty, savoury depth that underlies the toast topping.
Milk
Dilutes the egg slightly, giving a softer, smoother set in the mixture.

The step that matters

Stirring the egg mixture as it thickens. Egg proteins set with gentle heat; if the mixture gets too hot or is not stirred, the egg can scramble into lumps instead of forming a smooth, thickened topping.

“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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