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Creamed Crabs or Shrimps

A baked crab or shrimp dish topped with a creamy sauce and crushed crackers.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Creamed Crabs or Shrimps

six shells

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Make the filling

  1. Heat the cream in a saucepan and add the crab or shrimp.

  2. In a separate bowl, mix the milk and flour, then add to the hot cream along with the salt, butter, Worcestershire sauce, and cayenne.

  3. Spoon the mixture into six shells or serve on toast if preferred.

Bake and serve

  1. Dust the crushed cracker over the top and place a small amount of butter in the center of each shell.

  2. Bake in a preheated oven at 400°F (200°C) until browned.

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. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  2. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Cream + saucetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,787 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Crab + creamtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together317 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetoin (butter, cream).

  5. Crab + buttertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked 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

Crab or shrimp
Provides the main seafood flavor and the body of the filling.
Cream
Forms the rich, smooth base that gives the filling its body.
Milk
Thins the cream slightly and adds moisture to the filling.
Flour
Thickens the mixture so it holds together rather than running in the shells.
Butter
Adds richness and fat that helps the top brown in the oven.
Cracker
Forms a crisp, golden crumb topping that adds texture.

The step that matters

Thickening the hot cream with flour and milk. Flour must be mixed smoothly into the milk first so it does not clump. Once combined with the hot cream, starch thickens the mixture as it heats, giving a filling that holds its shape instead of running out of the shells.

“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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