Why it works: Sugar and syrup match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,842 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Siberian Crab Jelly
Ingredients
Directions
Make the syrup
Boil a peck of crabs in enough water to cover them for two hours.
Place the crabs in a jelly bag and allow to drain without squeezing.
Make the jelly
For each pint of syrup, add 1 pound of loaf sugar and boil for 30 minutes.
Use the reddest crabs for a beautiful color in the jelly.
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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Sugar + syruptop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,842 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Crab + sugartop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together407 recipes
Shared aroma: hexanal (grass, green).
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Crab + syruptop 22% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Crabs
- Release their juices and colour into the syrup that becomes the jelly base.
- Loaf sugar
- Adds sweetness and, once boiled with the syrup, helps it thicken into a jelly.
The step that matters
Drain the crabs without squeezing. Pressing the bag forces cloudy solids and fine particles through the strained liquid, making the jelly murky. Letting it drip slowly keeps the syrup clear.
“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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