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Crab Pie

A baked pie filled with crab meat, butter, flour, anchovy sauce, spices, milk, and bread crumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Anchovy and sauce are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,057 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Crab Pie

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Prepare the crab

  1. Remove the flesh from the body and claws of the crab, discarding any shell pieces.

  2. Clean and dry the crab shell.

Make the filling

  1. In a small saucepan, melt the butter and flour together.

  2. Add the milk and stir until it boils.

  3. Add the anchovy sauce, pepper, salt, cayenne, and lemon juice.

  4. Mix in the crab meat thoroughly.

Bake and serve

  1. Sprinkle some bread crumbs inside the shell.

  2. Pour in the crab mixture, smoothing the top.

  3. Sprinkle more bread crumbs on top.

  4. Dot with butter or soak the bread crumbs in melted butter.

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

  6. Serve hot.

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. Anchovy + saucetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together27,047 recipes

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

  3. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  4. Crab + anchovytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together79 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  5. Crab + buttertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together812 recipes

    Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

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

What each ingredient does

Crab
Forms the main body of the filling, providing the savoury flavour and texture of the pie.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, carrying flavour and helping the crumbs brown.
Flour
Thickens the melted butter and milk into a smooth, binding sauce for the filling.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the sauce, giving a creamy, moist texture.
Fine bread crumbs
Form a crisp, browned topping and absorb butter for golden colour.

The step that matters

Make the sauce smooth before adding the crab. Flour must be fully mixed into the melted butter and milk and brought to a boil so it thickens. Lumps or unthickened sauce will make the filling loose and grainy once the crab is stirred in.

“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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