Why it works: Milk and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 22% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 26,984 recipes. Both carry ethyl 2-methylbutyrate, which smells fruity, apple. The science ↓
Crab Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Throw fifteen crabs into boiling water alive.
When cooked, pick out the meat and stir it into 2 quarts of water in which a pound of bacon has been boiled.
Add 1 pint of heated rich milk, to which 2 well-beaten yolks have been added.
Pour the mixture into the soup and cook a few minutes without boiling.
Season with salt and red pepper.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
Counts 4 of 5 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume: 4 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Milk | 1 cup (244ml) whole | 149 |
| Bacon | 1 slice cooked (8g) | 43 |
| Black Pepper | 1 tsp ground (2.3g) | 6 |
| Salt | 1 tsp (6g) | 0 |
| Water | 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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Milk + peppertop 22% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together26,984 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Crabs (in the method)
- Provide the meat that forms the body of the soup.
- Egg yolks
- Enrich the soup and thicken it gently when heated without boiling.
- Rich milk
- Adds creaminess and softens the broth's flavor.
- Bacon
- Flavors the cooking water, giving the soup a smoky, savory base.
The step that matters
Cook the yolk mixture without boiling. Egg yolks thicken by gentle heat; if the soup boils after they are added, the proteins can scramble into grainy flecks and the texture is lost.
“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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