Why it works: Crab and sauce work together. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 238 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Broiled Crabs
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare and broil
Pour boiling water over the crabs and wipe them with a dry cloth.
Place the crabs on a wire rack and hold over hot coals.
Turn often to prevent scorching.
When the shell shrivels, the crabs are done.
Serve
Serve with sauce tartare.
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.
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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Crab + saucetop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together238 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Crabs
- Provide the main protein, which firms and turns opaque as the heat cooks it.
- Sauce tartare
- Adds tangy, creamy richness to balance the smoky char of the crabs.
The step that matters
Turning the crabs over hot coals. Turning often spreads the heat evenly and prevents the shell and surface from scorching before the meat inside is cooked through.
“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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