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 ↓
Deviled Crabs
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Make the sauce
Heat the vinegar, butter, mustard, salt, and pepper in a saucepan until hot, but do not boil.
Beat the yolks and milk together in a bowl.
Stir the beaten yolks and milk into the hot mixture until thick, ensuring it does not boil after adding the eggs.
Layer and bake
In a deep pie plate, layer a thin layer of rusk.
Add a layer of crab meat, then more rusk.
Add a couple of spoonfuls of the sauce.
Repeat the layers until all ingredients are used, finishing with rusk and sauce on top.
Bake in a preheated oven at 400°F (200°C) for about 10 minutes, until lightly browned.
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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Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,067 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Crab + meattop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together448 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine (cocoa, roasted).
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Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,430 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Crab meat
- Forms the main body of the dish and provides its savoury flavour.
- Rusks or bread crumbs
- Absorb the sauce and give the layers structure and a crisp, browned top.
- Eggs
- Yolks thicken the sauce as they set with gentle heat, binding it together.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat, giving the sauce a smooth, silky texture.
- Milk
- Dilutes the yolks into a smooth sauce and adds softness and mild sweetness.
- Vinegar
- Adds acidity that sharpens the flavour and balances the richness of the butter and yolks.
The step that matters
Stirring the yolks into the hot mixture. If the sauce gets too hot after the eggs go in, the yolk proteins scramble and the sauce turns grainy instead of smooth and thick. Keep the heat low and stir constantly.
Swap the mustard
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (crab, meat, bread, vinegar, butter, pepper, milk):
- Capsicumfits better
- Potatofits about as well
- Mustardthe original
- Onionfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against crab, meat, bread, vinegar, butter, pepper, milk. 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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