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Crabs with Rice

A dish of boiled crabs simmered with tomatoes, spices, and butter, then combined with boiled rice.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Crabs with Rice

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a saucepan, combine tomatoes, cayenne pepper, salt, grated onion, minced parsley, and butter.

  2. Cook for about 15 minutes.

  3. Stir in the boiled rice and picked crabs.

  4. Cook for an additional 15 minutes.

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. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Tomato + ricetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,065 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  3. Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

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

  4. Onion + tomatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,633 recipes

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

  5. Parsley + tomatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,398 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

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

What each ingredient does

Picked boiled crabs
Provides the main seafood flavour and the tender, flaky texture of the dish.
Boiled rice
Adds bulk and soaks up the sauce, giving the dish body.
Tomatoes
Supply moisture and acidity that balance the richness of the butter.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a smooth mouthfeel.
Grated onion
Adds savoury aroma as it softens and mellows in the sauce.
Chili pepper
Adds heat and a sharp, spicy aroma.

The step that matters

Stir in the boiled rice and picked crabs.. The crabs are already cooked, so they only need to heat through. Stirring gently keeps the rice grains and crab pieces intact, while overcooking would toughen the crab and turn the rice mushy.

Swap the tomato

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

  1. Okrafits better
  2. Potatofits better
  3. Carrotfits better
  4. Tomatothe original

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