Name: Awesome Crab Soup
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 20 min
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients: 1/2 cup butter; 1/3 cup all-purpose flour; 1 teaspoon Old Bay Seasoning TM; 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce; 1 (14.5 ounce) can chicken broth; 1 cup dry white wine; 1 cup half-and-half cream; 1 (2.5 ounce) package country style gravy mix; 8 ounces crabmeat; 4 drops hot sauce; 1/2 teaspoon salt; 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

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.

Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,516 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Butter + white winetop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,083 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Sauce + creamtop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,787 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Chicken + white winetop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,904 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Chicken	100g cooked	165
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Cream	1 tbsp (15ml) heavy	51
Wine	2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml)	25
Soy Sauce	1 tbsp (15ml)	9
Chili	1 tsp (2.7g)	8
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

Awesome Crab Soup