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Pairing

Mace + Crab

A cook's pairing more than a chemical one: 78 recipes use both, though they share little aroma. They rank in the top 27% of all ingredient pairs.

Smell alikelow
Cooked together78 recipes
Ranktop 27% of pairs
Try them in the pairing tool Mace Crab
30mace only 4shared 85crab only Mace · 34 Crab · 89
Circle size = number of flavor molecules on record. Overlap = molecules they share.

Do mace and crab go together?

Yes, in practice. 78 recipes in our collection combine them, and they share 4 flavor molecules. That places them in the top 27% of every ingredient pair we score.

What they have in common

They overlap on 4 flavor molecules: 12% of mace's 34. So the pairing rests more on how cooks use them than on shared aroma.

What each one brings

mace

The herbal side. Herbal notes make up 31% of its labelled aroma molecules, against 1% for crab. It carries 30 molecules crab doesn't have.

crab

The tartness. Sour notes make up 20% of its labelled aroma molecules, against 3% for mace. It carries 85 molecules mace doesn't have.

Add a third ingredient

  • Nutmeg: the best fit for both, top 4% of pairs with mace, top 18% with crab.
  • Meat: top 24% of pairs with mace, top 8% with crab.
  • Ginger: top 11% of pairs with mace, top 18% with crab.
  • Clove: top 6% of pairs with mace, top 28% with crab.

Ranked by the average of its two pairing scores. Only foods used in at least 100 recipes are suggested.

Recipes with mace and crab

Mostly mains: 3 of the 4 recipes with a course label are mains.

Crab SoupTo Make a Crab PieCream of Celery SoupHow We Cook in Tennessee

See recipes with both →

Can you swap one for the other?

Not really. Each has a lot the other lacks: mace has 30 molecules crab doesn't, and crab has 85 that mace doesn't. Treat them as partners, not stand-ins. This compares flavor only; texture, moisture and the job each does in a dish matter too.

All 4 shared molecules

See every shared molecule grouped by chemical class, with key aromas marked, plus the 30 only in mace and the 85 only in crab.

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Mace and crab questions

Do mace and crab go together?

A cook's pairing more than a chemical one: 78 recipes use both, though they share little aroma. They rank in the top 27% of all ingredient pairs.

What do mace and crab have in common?

They overlap on 4 flavor molecules: 12% of mace's 34. So the pairing rests more on how cooks use them than on shared aroma.

What goes with mace and crab?

Nutmeg is the best third ingredient: top 4% of pairs with mace and top 18% with crab. Meat and ginger also fit both.

What can you make with mace and crab?

Mostly mains: 3 of the 4 recipes with a course label are mains. Common dishes include Crab Soup, To Make a Crab Pie, Cream of Celery Soup, How We Cook in Tennessee.

Can I use crab instead of mace?

Not really. Each has a lot the other lacks: mace has 30 molecules crab doesn't, and crab has 85 that mace doesn't. Treat them as partners, not stand-ins. This compares flavor only; texture, moisture and the job each does in a dish matter too.

Compare other ingredients

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2

Two ingredients gives the full side-by-side breakdown; add a third to see a similarity matrix across all of them (up to 6).

Ranks compare this pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. Molecule counts are what the studies and databases we aggregate have reported for each ingredient: a measure of coverage, not a full census. How we score pairs

Cite this analysis
Plain text
Compound Kitchen (2026). Compound similarity analysis: Mace vs Crab. https://compkitchen.com/compare/mace-vs-crab. Accessed 2026-11-05.
BibTeX
@misc{compkitchen_compare_compound_similarity_analysis_mace_vs_crab_2026,
  title  = {Compound similarity analysis: Mace vs Crab},
  author = {{Compound Kitchen}},
  year   = {2026},
  url    = {https://compkitchen.com/compare/mace-vs-crab},
  note   = {Accessed: 2026-11-05}
}

Methodology DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.19719459 · CC BY 4.0 · Citations are a request, not a requirement.