Skip to main content
Main

Crabs, Style of Saint Lawrence

A toasted bread topped with crab mixture and cheese.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Crab and sherry work together. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 67 recipes. Both carry 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine, which smells cocoa, roasted. The science ↓

Crabs, Style of Saint Lawrence

Oven, in the book's wordsA very hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Prepare

  1. Chop the shelled crabs.

  2. In a pot, combine crabs, white stock, sherry or lemon juice, salt, and pepper.

  3. Cook for 10 minutes.

Assemble and brown

  1. Pour the mixture over slices of toast.

  2. Add more cheese on top.

  3. Brown under a salamander or in a very hot oven at 400°F (200°C).

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. Crab + sherrytop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together67 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine (cocoa, roasted).

  2. Sherry + cheesetop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together143 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl pentanoate (yeast, fruit).

  3. Crab + peppertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together922 recipes

    Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

  4. Pepper + cheesetop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,861 recipes

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

  5. Sherry + peppertop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,107 recipes

    Shared aroma: piperonal (bitter, coconut).

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

What each ingredient does

Shelled crabs
Provides the main flavour and the tender, meaty body of the topping.
White stock
Adds liquid that moistens the crab and carries the seasoning over the toast.
Cheese
Melts and browns on top, adding savoury richness and a golden crust.

The step that matters

Brown under a salamander or in a very hot oven. The topping must brown quickly at high heat so the cheese turns golden and the toast does not dry out or burn before the surface sets.

“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.

You might also like

Macaroni and CheeseMacaroni and Cheese102 recipesCheese MakingCheese Making50 recipesCrab SoupCrab Soup39 recipesCheese FrittersCheese Fritters34 recipes