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Oyster Crabs À LA Newburg

A creamy oyster crab and mushroom dish with sherry, butter, flour, cream, egg yolks, and brandy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Fannie Merritt Farmer · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Mushroom and sherry are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,176 recipes. Both carry 2-methoxy-4-methylphenol, which smells smoky, clove. The science ↓

Oyster Crabs À LA Newburg

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Peel mushroom caps and break into pieces.

  2. Add oyster crabs and wine. Cover and let stand for one hour.

Make the sauce

  1. Melt butter. Add the mixture of mushrooms, crabs, and wine. Cook for eight minutes.

  2. Add flour. Cook for two minutes.

  3. Season with salt, cayenne, and nutmeg.

  4. Add heavy cream.

  5. Just before serving, add egg yolks, slightly beaten, and brandy.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

922Calories
51 gProtein
29 gFat
106 gCarbs

Counts 11 of 12 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 11 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Crab100g cooked97
Oyster6 medium (84g)81
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Cream1 tbsp (15ml) heavy51
Wine2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml)25
Mushroom1/2 cup sliced (35g)15
Nutmeg1 tsp ground (2.2g)12
Cayenne1 tsp (1.8g)6
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Brandynot 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.

By Fannie Merritt Farmer. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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. Mushroom + sherrytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,176 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-methylphenol (smoky, clove).

  2. Mushroom + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,525 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  3. Mushroom + winetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,632 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-propylphenol (allspice, anise).

  4. Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,623 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Crab + buttertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together812 recipes

    Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

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

What each ingredient does

Oyster crabs
Provide the main seafood flavour and tender texture that the dish is built around.
Mushroom caps
Add earthy flavour and a soft, meaty texture to the sauce.
Butter
Carries flavour and enriches the sauce, giving it a rich mouthfeel.
Flour
Thickens the butter and liquids into a smooth base for the sauce.
Cream
Adds richness and body, mellowing the sauce into a smooth, creamy texture.
Egg yolks
Thicken the sauce gently as they heat, giving it a silky, custard-like body.

The step that matters

Adding the egg yolks. Egg yolks thicken by gentle heat and can scramble if the sauce boils. Add them just before serving, off the heat or on very low heat, and stir constantly.

Swap the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (oyster, crab, mushroom, sherry, wine, butter, flour):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Garlicfits about as well
  3. Capersfits about as well
  4. Nutmegthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against oyster, crab, mushroom, sherry, wine, butter, flour. 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.