Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
Deviled Crabs
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the crab
Boil the crab and extract the meat.
Season the crab meat with cayenne pepper, mustard, coarse sea salt, and your preferred table sauce.
Cook and serve
Place the mixture in a covered saucepan with enough hot water to prevent burning.
Add moistened cracker crumbs and butter to the crab mixture.
Serve in the crab shell, garnished with a sprig of parsley.
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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Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Mustard + parsleytop 8% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,588 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
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Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Pepper + mustardtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,430 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Sauce + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,787 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Crab
- Provides the main meat and flavor of the dish.
- Cracker crumbs
- Absorb liquid and bind the mixture, giving it body and a soft texture.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a smoother, moister texture.
- Cream
- Adds moisture and richness to the filling.
The step that matters
Place the mixture in a covered saucepan with enough hot water to prevent burning.. Gentle, moist heat warms the crab through without scorching the bottom of the pan. Too little water or too much direct heat can dry out or burn the mixture before it is heated evenly.
Swap the mustard
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (crab, pepper, sauce, cream, butter, parsley):
- Capsicumfits about as well
- Potatofits about as well
- Spinachfits about as well
- Mustardthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against crab, pepper, sauce, cream, butter, parsley. 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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