Why it works: Egg and wasabi work together. They rank in the top 27% of all ingredient pairs, and 32 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-methylbutyraldehyde, which smells malty, chocolate. The science ↓
The recipe
Serves 4Ingredients
Contains: egg, soy, shellfish (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Directions
Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.
Put the dried wakame in a bowl, cover with water and soak for 10 minutes until softened. Drain, squeeze out excess water and chop into bite-size pieces.
Halve the cucumber lengthways, scoop out the seeds and slice thinly into half-moons.
Warm the 40ml water until hot but not boiling, then dissolve the dashi granules in it. Stir in the bonito and leave for 5 minutes, then strain out the bonito and keep the liquid.
For the dressing, whisk the dashi liquid with the rice wine vinegar, white sugar and dark soy sauce. Set aside.
For the wasabi mayonnaise, whisk the egg yolks (use pasteurized eggs), white wine vinegar and salt in a bowl. Add the rapeseed oil a few drops at a time, whisking constantly, until thick and emulsified.
Whisk the wasabi into the mayonnaise until evenly green. Chill until needed.
If the crab is raw, steam it or simmer it in a pan of boiling water for 3 to 4 minutes until the flesh is opaque and reaches 145°F (63°C). If it is already cooked, just drain and pat dry. Flake the crab into pieces.
Toss the wakame and cucumber with most of the dressing. Divide among four plates.
Top each portion with flaked crab and spoon over a little wasabi mayonnaise. Drizzle with the remaining dressing and serve chilled.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Egg + wasabitop 27% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together32 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyraldehyde (malty, chocolate).
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Cucumber + wasabitop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together51 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Wakame + wasabitop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together3 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Seaweed + cucumbertop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together46 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
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Cucumber + vinegartop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together4,705 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Flavor stand-ins for the seaweed
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (wakame, cucumber, crab, bonito, rice wine, vinegar, sugar):
- Onionbetter flavor fit
- Capsicumbetter flavor fit
- Welsh onionbetter flavor fit
- Seaweedthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against wakame, cucumber, crab, bonito, rice wine, vinegar, sugar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).
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