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Crab Meat Canapé

A baked crab meat canapé topped with breadcrumbs, Parmesan, butter, parsley, and lemon wedges.

From the Wikibooks Cookbook · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and parmesan cheese are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,163 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Crab Meat Canapé

Oven350 °F (190 °C)
Time20 minutes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the crab mixture

  1. Pick over crab meat carefully with your fingers to assure the absence of crab shell. This is necessary.

  2. Sauté green onions in butter over medium heat until soft. Do not allow onions to brown.

  3. Add white lump crab meat, then fold in béchamel sauce. When mixture begins to simmer, remove from heat and fold in beaten egg yolks.

  4. Refrigerate mixture for 10 minutes in order to form canapés. Or, let stay in refrigerator overnight until ready to use.

Assemble and bake

  1. Preheat oven to 350 °F (190 °C).

  2. Combine breadcrumbs and Parmesan cheese in a mixing bowl.

  3. Trim the ends of the toast. Place trimmed toast on a baking sheet and spoon refrigerated crab meat mixture onto toast using an ice‑cream scoop.

  4. Sprinkle canapés with breadcrumbs and Parmesan cheese mixture. Dot each canapé with soft butter.

  5. Bake canapés for 20 minutes.

Serve

  1. Garnish each serving with flat‑leaf parsley and a wedge of lemon.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

907Calories
55 gProtein
26 gFat
112 gCarbs

Counts 10 of 12 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 10 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Parmesan Cheese1 oz (28g)110
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Shrimp100g cooked99
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Parsley1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)1
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Saucenot in our table0
Meatnot in our table0

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 Wikibooks Cookbook.

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. Butter + parmesan cheesetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,163 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  2. Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  3. Butter + crabtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together812 recipes

    Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

  4. Sauce + crabtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together238 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Onion + crabtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together311 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

White lump crab meat
Provides the main flavour and tender, flaked texture of the filling.
Béchamel sauce
Binds the crab into a creamy mixture that holds its shape on the toast.
Egg yolks
Enrich the filling and help it set lightly when baked.
Butter
Adds richness and helps the topping brown as it bakes.
Parmesan cheese
Adds savoury flavour and helps the topping turn golden in the oven.
Toast
Gives a crisp base that holds the filling and soaks up little moisture.

The step that matters

Fold in the egg yolks off the heat. Adding beaten yolks to a mixture that is still hot can scramble them into lumps. Removing the pan from heat first lets the yolks thicken the filling smoothly.

Swap the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sauce, onion, butter, crab, egg, parmesan cheese, parsley):

  1. Capersfits better
  2. Garlicfits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sauce, onion, butter, crab, egg, parmesan cheese, parsley. 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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