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 ↓
Devilled Crabs
Ingredients
Directions
Make the filling
Make a sauce of butter, flour, and stock.
Add yolks of eggs, seasonings (except parsley), crab meat, and mushrooms.
Cook for three minutes.
Add parsley and cool mixture.
Fill and bake
Wash and trim crab shells.
Fill rounding with mixture.
Sprinkle with stale bread crumbs mixed with a small quantity of melted butter.
Crease on top with a case knife, making three parallel lines across shell and three short lines branching from outside parallel lines.
Bake until crumbs are brown.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
Counts 9 of 10 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume: 9 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Butter | 1 tbsp (14g) | 102 |
| Crab | 100g cooked | 97 |
| Egg | 1 large egg (50g) | 78 |
| Wine | 2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml) | 25 |
| Mushroom | 1/2 cup sliced (35g) | 15 |
| Black Pepper | 1 tsp ground (2.3g) | 6 |
| Parsley | 1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g) | 1 |
| Salt | 1 tsp (6g) | 0 |
| Meat | 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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Mushroom + sherrytop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,176 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-methylphenol (smoky, clove).
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Mushroom + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,525 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
-
Crab + meattop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together448 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine (cocoa, roasted).
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Mushroom + winetop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,632 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-propylphenol (allspice, anise).
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Crab + buttertop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked 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
- Butter
- Enriches the sauce and helps the flour form a smooth base.
- Flour
- Thickens the stock into a sauce that binds the filling.
- Eggs
- Yolks enrich and set the filling, giving it a soft, cohesive texture.
- Crab meat
- Main protein providing the filling's flavor and body.
- Sherry wine
- Adds acidity and aroma to the filling.
The step that matters
Cook for three minutes. Egg yolks thicken and set when heated, but overcooking can make them grainy or curdled. Cooking briefly, then cooling before filling, keeps the mixture smooth and cohesive.
“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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