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Devilled Crab

A crab stuffed with a seasoned sauce, baked with buttered crumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Devilled Crab

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the crab

  1. Cook the crab in boiling water for 20 to 30 minutes.

  2. Place the crab in cold water for a few minutes.

  3. Remove the claws and apron from the under shell.

  4. Carefully remove the shells, keeping the upper shell intact.

  5. Leave the stomach with the head.

  6. Remove the gills and intestines.

  7. Break the body in half and extract the meat from the bones.

Make the filling

  1. Prepare the sauce.

  2. Season the sauce well.

  3. Mix the crab meat into the sauce.

  4. Scrub the shell.

  5. Fill the shell with the mixture.

Bake and serve

  1. Cover the shell with buttered crumbs.

  2. Bake at 400°F (200°C) for about 15 minutes or until brown.

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. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Butter + saucetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together15,338 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Flour + saucetop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,078 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Crab (in the method)
Provides the main meat that forms the body of the filling.
Flour
Thickens the cream sauce so the filling holds together rather than running.
Cream
Adds moisture and richness, giving the filling a smooth, tender texture.
Butter
Adds fat and flavour to the sauce and helps the crumbs turn golden when baked.
Crumbs
Form a crisp, browned topping that contrasts with the soft filling.

The step that matters

Season the sauce well. The crab meat is mild and the filling is baked, so seasoning is mixed into the sauce before the meat is added. Under-seasoned sauce leaves the whole filling bland, and the seasoning cannot be fully corrected once it is in the shell.

“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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