Skip to main content
Main

Crab Kromskies

Small rolls of crab, rice, and ham, coated in batter and fried until golden brown.

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

Why it works: Rice and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,762 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Crab Kromskies

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Combine the crab, egg, cooked rice, breadcrumbs, parsley, and ham in a bowl.

  2. Form the mixture into small rolls.

Coat and fry

  1. Roll each roll in bacon.

  2. Cover the rolls with batter.

  3. Fry the rolls in hot fat until golden 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. Rice + parsleytop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,762 recipes

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

  2. Crab + ricetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together117 recipes

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

  3. Egg + hamtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,526 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  4. Rice + hamtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together477 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

  5. Crab + hamtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Egg
Binds the crab and rice mixture so the rolls hold their shape.
Breadcrumbs
Absorb moisture and add body to the filling for a firmer roll.
Cooked rice
Adds bulk and softness to the filling, extending the crab.
Batter
Forms a coating that crisps and browns when fried.

The step that matters

Fry the rolls in hot fat until golden brown. The fat must be hot enough to set and crisp the batter quickly. If the fat is too cool, the coating absorbs oil and turns greasy before the filling is heated through.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (crab, egg, rice, ham):

  1. Capersfits about as well
  2. Nutmegfits about as well
  3. Parsleythe original
  4. Turmericfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against crab, egg, rice, ham. 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.

You might also like

Rice FrittersRice Fritters84 recipesSteamed RiceSteamed Rice48 recipesCrab SoupCrab Soup39 recipesRice Griddle CakesRice Griddle Cakes28 recipes