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Crab Frake

A creamy crab dish with mustard, egg, and cracker crumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Cream and butter 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 ↓

Crab Frake

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Make the sauce

  1. In a saucepan, mix cream, mustard, butter, pepper, and salt.

  2. Heat the mixture until it comes to a boil.

Assemble and bake

  1. Stir in crab meat and the beaten egg.

  2. Transfer the mixture to a baking dish.

  3. Sprinkle cracker crumbs on top.

  4. Add bits of butter on top.

  5. Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven until browned.

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. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

  2. Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,430 recipes

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

  3. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

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

  5. Mustard + buttertop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,003 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Cream
Adds richness and body to the sauce, giving the filling a smooth, creamy texture.
Egg
Sets as it bakes, binding the crab and cream into a sliceable filling.
Crab meat (in the method)
Provides the main flavour and protein of the dish.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, helping the top brown in the oven.
Mustard
Adds a sharp note that balances the richness of the cream and butter.

The step that matters

Stirring in the egg after boiling. The mixture is very hot after boiling. Adding the beaten egg while it is still boiling can cause it to scramble, so stir it in gently and evenly for a smooth, set filling.

Swap the mustard

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cream, egg, butter, pepper):

  1. Potatofits better
  2. Spinachfits better
  3. Asparagusfits better
  4. Mustardthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cream, egg, butter, pepper. 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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