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Shrimp Sauce

A sauce made with white sauce, shrimp, anchovy essence, lemon juice, and cayenne, simmered in fish stock.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Sauce and anchovy are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,057 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Shrimp Sauce

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Simmer shrimp shells in equal parts milk and water to make fish stock.

Make the sauce

  1. Combine the hot white sauce, picked shrimps, anchovy essence, lemon juice, and cayenne in a saucepan.

  2. Cover the saucepan and let it sit for a few minutes without boiling.

Serve

  1. Serve warm.

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 + anchovytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Lemon + peppertop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together27,047 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  3. Anchovy + fishtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together637 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

    Shared aroma: hexanol (green, fruity).

  5. Shrimp + fishtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together252 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

White sauce
Forms the creamy base that gives the sauce its body and smooth texture.
Picked shrimps
Supply the main seafood flavour and a tender, meaty bite.
Anchovy essence
Adds a savoury depth that boosts the seafood flavour without tasting fishy.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the rich sauce and sharpens the flavours.

The step that matters

Letting the sauce sit without boiling. Shrimp proteins tighten and turn rubbery when overheated, and boiling can also break a white sauce. Gentle, covered heat keeps the shrimp tender and the sauce smooth.

“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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