Why it works: Butter and shrimp 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
Directions
In a bowl, rub together the butter, flour, salt, and pepper.
In a saucepan, bring the hot water to a simmer.
Add the butter mixture to the hot water and stir well.
Simmer for five minutes.
Stir in the shrimp and heat through.
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.
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Butter + shrimptop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,931 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + peppertop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together50,459 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together85,593 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Pepper + shrimptop 24% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,692 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylethanol (rose, floral).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Butter
- Provides fat and richness, giving the sauce a smooth, rounded mouthfeel.
- Flour
- Thickens the sauce as it heats with the butter and water.
- Shrimp
- Supplies the main flavor and protein, added at the end so it only warms through.
The step that matters
Stir the butter mixture into the hot water well. Flour clumps if it hits liquid unevenly. Stirring thoroughly while adding the butter mixture to the water helps the starch disperse and thicken into a smooth sauce.
“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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