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Shrimp Straws

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
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Why it works: Pepper and ginger match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,800 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Shrimp Straws

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Chop the shelled shrimps, onion, and ginger very fine using a chopper.

  2. In a large bowl, combine the chopped mixture with the egg whites, salt, and pepper.

  3. Beat the ingredients until stiff.

  4. Spread the mixture on thinly sliced bread.

  5. Cut the bread into strips about 1 inch wide and 4 inches long.

  6. Sprinkle with browned bread crumbs.

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. Pepper + gingertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,800 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Onion + gingertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,595 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  5. Shrimp + gingertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together721 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

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

Swap the ginger

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (shrimp, bread, egg, onion, pepper):

  1. Garlicfits better
  2. Parsleyfits better
  3. Capersfits better
  4. Gingerthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against shrimp, bread, egg, onion, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

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