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Baked Crab

A baked crab dish with shredded crab, butter, mashed potato, sea salt, pepper, Parmesan, and melted butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Potato and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,305 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Baked Crab

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the crab

  1. Remove the flesh from the crab and tear it into shreds with two forks.

  2. In a stewpan over low heat, moisten the crab with a broth foundation.

Make the filling

  1. Cut the butter into small squares and add gradually, mixing in the mashed potato last.

  2. Season with salt and pepper, then butter a large silver coquille or six smaller ones.

  3. Fill with the mixture and smooth the surface with a hot palette knife.

Bake and serve

  1. Dust with grated Parmesan, baste with melted butter, and bake in a moderate oven (350°F / 175°C) for a few minutes until browned.

  2. Serve on a hot napkin.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

    Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

  3. Butter + potatotop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,456 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  4. Crab + peppertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together922 recipes

    Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

  5. Crab + potatotop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together38 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine (cocoa, roasted).

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

What each ingredient does

Crab
Provides the main flesh and savory body of the filling.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture, and helps the surface brown.
Mashed potato
Adds body and softness, helping the filling hold together and stay moist.
Grated parmesan
Forms a savory crust that browns when baked.

The step that matters

Adding the butter gradually. Butter added in small pieces emulsifies into the warm crab and potato mixture, giving a smooth, creamy texture; adding it all at once or over high heat can cause it to separate and turn greasy.

Swap the potato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (crab, butter, pepper):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Potatothe original
  3. Onionfits about as well
  4. Okrafits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against crab, butter, pepper. 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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