Name: Sardines and Crab, Savoury of
Ingredients: 6 sardines, boned; flesh of 1 small crab; 1 hard-boiled egg yolk; a pinch of cayenne pepper; ¼ cup cream; 2 ounces bread crumbs; 1 ounce butter; 1 raw egg

Why it works: Bread and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Sardines and Crab, Savoury of

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the mixture

Remove the gills from the sardines and rub them through a small sieve.
Add the crab flesh, hard-boiled egg yolk, cayenne, cream, bread crumbs, butter, and raw egg to the sardines. Mix thoroughly and form into small balls.

Coat and fry

Dip the balls in beaten egg, then coat with bread crumbs.
Fry in boiling fat until golden brown.
Garnish with crisp parsley.

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.

Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,232 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,516 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Crab + creamtop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together317 recipes

Shared aroma: acetoin (butter, cream).
Crab + buttertop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together812 recipes

Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together22,662 recipes

Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Sardines: Provide the main flavour and the bulk of the fish mixture that holds the balls together.
Raw egg: Binds the mixture so the balls hold their shape while frying.
Hard-boiled egg yolk: Adds richness and a soft, smooth texture to the mixture.
Bread crumbs: Absorb moisture to firm the mixture and form a crisp golden coating.
Cream: Adds moisture and softness so the mixture stays tender rather than dry.
Butter: Adds fat for richness and a softer, more tender interior.

The step that matters

Fry in boiling fat until golden brown. The fat must be hot enough to set the egg coating quickly, so the balls brown outside without absorbing grease or cooking through slowly and falling apart.

“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.

Brown Bread461 recipes

White Bread80 recipes

Bread Omelette60 recipes

Oatmeal Bread51 recipes

Like knowing why a recipe works?

The free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.

Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.

Sardines and Crab, Savoury of