Why it works: Sugar and syrup match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,842 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Crab Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Make the base
Put milk and cream in a double boiler, and bring to a boil.
Rub butter with a scant tablespoon of flour, and add to it also the chopped onions.
When it comes to a boil, put in crab meat and pepper and boil for ten or fifteen minutes.
Add salt first before taking off the fire.
Make the custard
Make a syrup of 1 cup of sugar and 1/4 cup of water.
Beat the yolks of 4 eggs, add 3/4 cup of syrup, and 1/2 cup of cream.
Place the mixture on fire.
Stir until it coats a spoon.
Place it on ice and beat until it is stiff and light.
Finish and freeze
Flavor with vanilla bean or Maraschino, when taken off the fire.
Fold in lightly a pint of whipped cream.
Put the mixture in a mold and freeze.
It is improved by using some praline powder.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Crab | 100g cooked | 97 |
| Egg | 1 large egg (50g) | 78 |
| Cream | 1 tbsp (15ml) heavy | 51 |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated | 49 |
| Onion | 1 medium (110g) | 44 |
| Salt | 1 tsp (6g) | 0 |
| Water | not in our table | 0 |
| Syrup | 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.
-
Sugar + syruptop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,842 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
-
Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
-
Cream + crabtop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together317 recipes
Shared aroma: acetoin (butter, cream).
-
Syrup + creamtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,964 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
-
Onion + crabtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together311 recipes
Shared aroma: acetoin (butter, cream).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Yolks thicken the custard and give it a rich, set structure when gently heated.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the mixture and keeps the frozen texture softer.
- Cream
- Adds fat and richness, giving a smooth, creamy mouthfeel.
- Syrup
- Sweetens the custard and helps keep the frozen mixture from freezing too hard.
- Crabs
- Provides the main seafood flavor of the dish.
The step that matters
Stir until it coats a spoon. Egg yolks thicken gently over low heat. If the custard overheats, the yolks scramble and turn grainy, so remove it as soon as it coats the spoon.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, syrup, cream, crab, egg):
- Capsicumfits better
- Horseradishfits better
- Mustardfits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, syrup, cream, crab, egg. 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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