Why it works: Nutmeg and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 13,015 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
To Dress a Crab
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Remove the meat from the crab and cleanse it from the skin.
Cook
In a saucepan, combine the crab meat, white wine, nutmeg, pepper, and coarse sea salt over low heat.
Add a few crumbs of bread.
Beat the egg yolk with vinegar, then add it to the saucepan.
Shake the saucepan for a minute, then serve on a plate.
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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Nutmeg + peppertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together13,015 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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White wine + vinegartop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,776 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
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Nutmeg + breadtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,997 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Pepper + vinegartop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,814 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Crab meat (in the method)
- Provides the main protein and flavour of the salad.
- Egg yolk
- Emulsifies with the vinegar and adds richness and body to the mixture.
- Bread crumbs
- Absorb liquid and help thicken the mixture slightly.
- White wine
- Adds acidity and aroma while gently cooking the crab.
The step that matters
Adding the egg yolk and vinegar. Adding the beaten yolk to hot liquid can scramble it. Keeping the heat low and shaking the pan gently helps the yolk thicken smoothly without curdling.
Swap the nutmeg
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (white wine, pepper, bread, egg, vinegar):
- Tarragonfits better
- Parsleyfits better
- Marjoramfits better
- Nutmegthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against white wine, pepper, bread, egg, vinegar. 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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