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Deviled Crabs

A crab dish with a creamy, seasoned filling baked in shells.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Nutmeg and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,062 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Deviled Crabs

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. Put the crabs in warm water and add salt.

  2. Boil for 30 minutes, then drain the crabs.

  3. Break off the claws and separate the shells.

  4. Remove the spongy fingers and stomach, then pick out all the meat.

Make the filling

  1. Boil the cream in a saucepan.

  2. Rub the butter and flour together, then add the mixture to the boiling cream and stir for 2 minutes.

  3. Remove from heat.

  4. Mix in crab meat, mashed egg yolks, parsley, nutmeg, salt, and cayenne.

Fill and bake

  1. Clean the upper shells of the crabs and fill them with the mixture.

  2. Brush with beaten egg and cover with breadcrumbs.

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

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. Nutmeg + parsleytop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,062 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,623 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Crab + creamtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together317 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetoin (butter, cream).

  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 meat
Forms the main body of the filling and gives the dish its flavour.
Cream
Makes a rich, smooth base that holds the filling together and keeps it moist.
Flour
Thickens the cream into a sauce that binds the crab meat.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, and helps the flour thicken the cream smoothly.
Egg yolks
Add richness and help bind the filling as they set with gentle heat.

The step that matters

Adding the flour and butter to the boiling cream. If the flour is not fully blended in before it meets the hot cream, it forms lumps. Rubbing the butter and flour together first and stirring while the cream is boiling helps the starch hydrate evenly, giving a smooth, thickened base.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (crab, cream, flour, nutmeg, butter, egg):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Capersfits about as well
  3. Tarragonfits about as well
  4. Parsleythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against crab, cream, flour, nutmeg, butter, egg. 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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