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Shrimps in a Gratin

Shrimps coated in béchamel sauce, lobster spawn, lemon juice, and bread crumbs, then broiled.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Sauce and lobster are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,095 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Shrimps in a Gratin

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Pick 1 to 2 quarts of shrimps based on the dish size.

Make and bake

  1. Toss the shrimps in good béchamel sauce with pounded lobster spawn.

  2. Heat the mixture until very hot and squeeze in a little lemon juice.

  3. Transfer the mixture to a dish and sprinkle with bread crumbs.

  4. Use a salamander to give it a nice color 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. Sauce + lobstertop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,095 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Shrimp + lobstertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together403 recipes

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

  3. Shrimp + saucetop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,423 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Shrimp + breadtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together360 recipes

    Shared aroma: hexanol (green, fruity).

  5. Shrimp + lemontop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,923 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 protein and bulk of the dish.
Good béchamel sauce
Binds the shrimp together and keeps the gratin moist and creamy.
Lobster spawn
Adds concentrated shellfish flavor to the sauce.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the rich sauce.
Bread crumbs
Form a crisp, golden topping when browned.

The step that matters

Browning the top under a salamander. The crumbs brown quickly under intense direct heat, so the surface can burn before the dish is hot through. Watch the color closely and heat the mixture until very hot first, so the top browns just as the gratin is ready to serve.

Swap the lemon

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

  1. Coconutfits about as well
  2. Lemonthe original
  3. Avocadofits about as well
  4. Grapefits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against shrimp, sauce, lobster, bread. 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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