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Shell Fish

Shellfish meat stuffed into shells, baked with crumbs and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Bread and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Shell Fish

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the filling

  1. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).

  2. In a bowl, combine shellfish meat, coarse sea salt, black pepper, a pinch of nutmeg, 1 tablespoon cracker or bread crumbs, 2 large beaten eggs, and 2 tablespoons butter. Stir well.

  3. Clean the shells and fill each with the mixture.

Bake and serve

  1. Sprinkle additional crumbs on top and moisten with shellfish liquor.

  2. Bake in the oven until golden brown, about a few minutes.

  3. Serve hot on large dishes.

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. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

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

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

  4. Nutmeg + breadtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,997 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Meat + breadtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,924 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

What each ingredient does

Shellfish meat
Forms the main filling and provides the core flavor of the dish.
Eggs
Bind the filling as they set during baking, holding it together in the shells.
Cracker or bread crumbs
Absorb moisture and help the filling hold its shape while baking.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture to the filling and helps the top brown.

The step that matters

Bake until golden brown. Eggs set as they heat, so overbaking can make the filling dry and rubbery. Watch for a golden top rather than relying only on the stated time, since the time given is only an approximate guide.

Swap the nutmeg

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

  1. Parsleyfits about as well
  2. Nutmegthe original
  3. Thymefits about as well
  4. Sagefits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against meat, pepper, bread, egg, butter. 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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