Name: Shrimp Sauce
Ingredients: shrimp; butter; water; lemon juice

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 Sauce

Ingredients

shrimp
butter
water
lemon juice

Directions

Wash the shrimp by pouring a little water over them.
Melt butter in a pan until thick and smooth.
Add the shrimp to the melted butter and bring to a boil.
Remove from heat and stir in the juice of a lemon.

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.

Shrimp + buttertop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,931 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,227 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Shrimp + lemontop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,923 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).