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Crab Laillee

A Creole-style stew of blue crabs cooked in lard and oil with flour, onions, tomatoes and tomato paste, served with rice.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By New Orleans Federation of Clubs · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Crab Laillee

six people

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the crabs

  1. Scald, shell and cleanse the crabs thoroughly, reserving only the bodies and great claws for cooking.

  2. Crack the great claws with nut crackers.

  3. Save all fat, eggs and liquid in the shells.

Fry and make the gravy

  1. Heat the lard and oil together in a deep iron skillet.

  2. Fry the crab bodies and claws to a light golden brown, then remove from the fire.

  3. Add the flour to the boiling grease in the skillet and brown very lightly.

  4. Add the onions, garlic and parsley, all chopped fine.

  5. Cook slowly so as not to darken the flour.

  6. Add the tomato paste and potatoes and cook a few minutes.

  7. Pour in sufficient water to keep from burning, stirring constantly.

  8. Add sufficient water to fill the pot half full and let the mixture boil hard a few minutes.

  9. Put in the crabs, eggs, fat, etc., and season with the herb bouquet.

  10. Add two or three whole cloves, if desired.

  11. Season with salt and red pepper to taste, using enough pepper to make the dish piquant.

Simmer and serve

  1. Let simmer slowly, adding water occasionally, so that the crabs are always just covered.

  2. Cook until the gravy is smooth and almost creamy, nearly the color of crushed strawberry.

  3. Serve with rice.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

270Calories
21 gProtein
15 gFat
13 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 7 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Lard1 tbsp (12.8g)115
Blue Crab100g cooked97
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Clove1 tsp ground (2g)7
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
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.

By New Orleans Federation of Clubs. 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. 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.

  1. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  2. Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  3. Clove + parsleytop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,768 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

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

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

  5. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

What each ingredient does

Lard
Carries heat for frying and adds richness and browning to the crabs and roux.
Blue crabs
Provide the main meat and shell-based flavor that gives the gravy its character.
Onions
Soften and turn sweet as they cook slowly, building the base flavor of the gravy.

The step that matters

Brown the flour lightly and cook it slowly. Flour cooked gently thickens the gravy and adds a nutty color. If it heats too fast or too long it scorches, turning the gravy bitter and dark.

Swap the onion

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against crab, clove, parsley, 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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