Skip to main content
Main

Ago Glain

A crab stew from Benin made with live crabs, tomatoes, onions, lime juice, and spices.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 12 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Pepper and lime match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,491 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Ago Glain

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the crabs

  1. Wash the crabs and place them live in a large stockpot full of boiling water to which the vinegar, salt, and pepper have been added.

  2. Cook the crabs for 10 minutes, skimming off any residue that rises to the top of the water.

  3. Then add the whole tomatoes, the bay leaf, parsley, and one of the onions with the cloves stuck in it.

  4. Remove the tomatoes after 5 minutes and continue to cook the rest of the ingredients for an additional 5 minutes or until the crabs are done.

  5. Remove the crabs. (You may wish to reserve the water in which the crabs have been cooked to use for cooking the white rice that traditionally accompanies this dish.)

Prepare the crabmeat and sauce

  1. Remove the crabmeat from the body and the claws, trying to maintain the shells for serving.

  2. Place the crabmeat in the lime juice.

  3. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a saucepan.

  4. Mince the two remaining onions and brown them lightly in the oil.

  5. Add the cooked tomatoes and cook the mixture until it is reduced to a pastelike consistency.

  6. When the mixture is reduced, add the Pili Pili, stir to ensure that the flavors are mixed, verify flavoring, and serve hot.

Serve

  1. The crabs are traditionally served in their own shells or in ceramic shells, on a bed of rice covered with the sauce.

  2. Alternately, the sauce may be served separately in a sauceboat.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

312Calories
22 gProtein
16 gFat
22 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 11 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Crab100g cooked97
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Limejuice of 1 lime (44ml)11
Clove1 tsp ground (2g)7
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Vinegar1 tbsp (15ml) distilled3
Bay Leaf1 leaf (0.6g)2
Parsley1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)1
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

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. Pepper + limetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,491 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Parsley + limetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together547 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  5. Parsley + clovetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,768 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

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

What each ingredient does

Crabs
Provide the main protein, cooked in seasoned water so the meat firms and sets.
Tomatoes
Break down into a thick, pastelike sauce that gives body and a fresh acidity.
Onions
Brown lightly in oil to add sweetness and savory depth to the sauce.
Limes
Juice adds acidity that brightens the crabmeat and balances the rich sauce.
Dende oil
Fat for browning the onions, adding flavor and color to the sauce.
Pili pili
Adds heat and pepper flavor to the finished sauce.

The step that matters

Reducing the tomato mixture to a pastelike consistency. Cooking the tomatoes and onions down slowly lets water evaporate and sugars concentrate, giving a thick sauce with deep flavor. Stopping early leaves it thin and watery.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (crab, vinegar, pepper, tomato, parsley, clove, lime):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Okrafits better
  3. Carrotfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against crab, vinegar, pepper, tomato, parsley, clove, lime. 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.

You might also like

Tomato SoupTomato Soup526 recipesCream of Tomato SoupCream of Tomato Soup107 recipesTomato BisqueTomato Bisque61 recipesCrab SoupCrab Soup39 recipes