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Canapes Lorenzo

Crab and parmesan topping served on toasted bread.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Shallot and flour match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,081 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Canapes Lorenzo

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.

Make the crab filling

  1. In a skillet, melt 2 oz. of butter over low heat and lightly fry the chopped shallot without coloring.

  2. Stir in 1 tbsp of flour and gradually add 1 pt. of cream, mixing well.

  3. Add 1 lb. of crab meat, season with coarse sea salt and cayenne pepper, and cook until it just begins to bubble.

Prepare the bread

  1. Cut bread into round, square, or oval shapes, ¼ inch thick, and toast only one side.

  2. Spread the crab mixture on the toasted side of the bread.

Top and bake

  1. In a bowl, mix ¼ lb. of softened butter with ½ lb. of grated parmesan cheese and season with red and white pepper.

  2. Spread this mixture over the crab-topped bread, about ⅛ inch thick.

  3. Place the canapés in a buttered pan and bake until golden in a 400 °F (200 °C) oven.

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. Shallot + flourtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,081 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

  3. Crab + meattop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together448 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine (cocoa, roasted).

  4. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

  5. Cream + crabtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together317 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetoin (butter, cream).

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

What each ingredient does

Crab meat
Forms the main filling and gives the canapés their savory, seafood flavor.
Cream
Makes the filling smooth and moist, carrying the crab together with the flour.
Parmesan cheese
Melts and browns on top, adding salty, nutty flavor and a golden crust.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, helping the topping brown and taste rich.
Flour
Thickens the cream into a binding sauce that holds the crab mixture together.

The step that matters

Cook the crab mixture only until it just begins to bubble. Crab meat is delicate and overcooking it toughens its texture and dries the filling. The flour-thickened cream should be hot and loose enough to spread but not boiled down.

Swap the shallot

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

  1. Potatofits about as well
  2. Spinachfits about as well
  3. Capsicumfits about as well
  4. Shallotthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, flour, cream, crab, meat, pepper, bread. 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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