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Crab Pie

A baked pie made with crab meat, butter, flour, milk, seasonings, 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 all the flesh from the body and claws of the crab, ensuring no shell pieces remain.

  2. Wash and dry the crab shell.

Make the filling

  1. In a small saucepan, mix the butter and flour.

  2. Add the milk and stir until it boils.

  3. Add the seasonings except for the lemon juice.

  4. Mix in the crab meat thoroughly.

Bake and serve

  1. Sprinkle some bread crumbs inside the shell.

  2. Pour the crab mixture into the shell.

  3. Smooth the top.

  4. Sprinkle more bread crumbs.

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

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

  7. 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
Provides the main flesh that forms the body of the filling.
Butter
Adds richness and helps the crumbs brown during baking.
Flour
Thickens the butter and milk into a smooth, binding sauce.
Milk
Forms the liquid base that the flour thickens into a creamy sauce.
Bread crumbs
Form a crisp, browned topping on the pie.

The step that matters

Add the milk and stir until it boils. Flour needs to be cooked in hot liquid for the sauce to thicken fully; stirring prevents lumps and scorching on the pan base.

“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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