Why it works: Crab and meat work together. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 448 recipes. Both carry 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine, which smells cocoa, roasted. The science ↓
Cecelia Bart a
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the ingredients
Pull out the bones and cut crab meat into large pieces.
Cut the whites of the eggs into cubes.
Cut the almonds into thin lengthwise strips.
Mix crab meat, egg whites, almonds, salt, paprika, and green pepper or pimento.
Make the dressing
Whip the cream very stiff.
Add the whipped cream gently to the mayonnaise dressing.
Add the dressing to the crab mixture.
Serve
Serve small mounds on individual salad plates on a nest of lettuce leaves, garnish with strips of pimento or green pepper, and top with a piece of the egg yolks.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
Counts 6 of 8 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume: 6 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Shrimp | 100g cooked | 99 |
| Egg | 1 large egg (50g) | 78 |
| Cream | 1 tbsp (15ml) heavy | 51 |
| Bell Pepper | 1 medium (119g) | 31 |
| Almond | 1 almond (1.2g) | 7 |
| Salt | 1 tsp (6g) | 0 |
| Meat | not in our table | 0 |
| Salad Dressing | not in our table | 0 |
One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.
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. See the original page.
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.
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Crab + meattop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together448 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine (cocoa, roasted).
-
Crab + creamtop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together317 recipes
Shared aroma: acetoin (butter, cream).
-
Crab + peppertop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together922 recipes
Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
-
Almond + creamtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,130 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).
-
Crab + almondtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together24 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine (cocoa, roasted).
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 body of the salad and gives it its flavour.
- Cream salad dressing
- Adds moisture and richness that binds the salad together.
- Whipping cream
- Whipped to stiffness, it lightens the dressing and adds a soft, airy texture.
- Eggs
- Hard-cooked whites add firm bite and body; yolks add richness as a topping.
- Almonds
- Blanched strips add a crisp, mild crunch against the soft crab.
The step that matters
Whip the cream very stiff. Cream needs to hold its shape when folded in. Under-whipped cream thins the dressing and makes the salad loose, while over-whipping can turn it grainy or buttery. Fold it in gently to keep the air.
Swap the almond
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (crab, meat, cream, egg, pepper):
- Walnutfits about as well
- Beansfits about as well
- Almondthe original
- Sesamefits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against crab, meat, cream, egg, pepper. 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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