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Crab, Devilled

Devilled crab prepared with sugar, lemon, gelatin, and water, set in molds.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and gelatin are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,778 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Crab, Devilled

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the liquid

  1. Return the liquid to the pan.

  2. For each pint of liquid, add 1 lb of sugar and 2 teaspoons of lemon juice.

  3. Simmer gently for 1 hour, skimming as needed.

Add the gelatin

  1. Measure the liquid.

  2. For each pint, dissolve ½ oz of gelatin in a little warm water.

  3. Strain and add to the pan.

Set and serve

  1. Pour the mixture into a prepared mold or jelly glasses.

  2. Serve when set.

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. Sugar + gelatintop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,778 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Crab + lemontop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together387 recipes

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

  3. Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together53,532 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  4. Crab + sugartop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together407 recipes

    Shared aroma: hexanal (grass, green).

  5. Lemon + gelatintop 27% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,215 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-pinene (pine, resin).

Sugar and lemon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Gelatin
Provides the setting structure that turns the liquid into a firm, sliceable jelly.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and body to the liquid, balancing its flavour.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the flavour and cuts the sweetness.
Crab
Provides the main flavour of the dish.

The step that matters

Dissolving the gelatin fully before adding it. Gelatin only sets when it is completely dissolved and evenly distributed. Dissolve it in warm water first, then strain it into the pan, so no lumps or undissolved granules remain to weaken the set.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (crab, sugar, gelatin):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Raisinfits better
  3. Lemonthe original
  4. Applefits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against crab, sugar, gelatin. 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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