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Dressed Crab

A crab dish with a creamy dressing of anchovy essence, vinegar, chili sauce, mustard, and herbs, served in the shell.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 16 ingredients
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Why it works: Tarragon and mustard match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 901 recipes. Both carry methyleugenol, which smells clove, spice. The science ↓

Dressed Crab

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the crab

  1. Boil the crab in slightly salted water for 30-40 minutes, depending on its size.

  2. Remove the crab from the water and let it cool.

  3. Remove the large and small claws, crack the large claw shells, and extract the meat.

  4. Set aside about 2 tablespoons of the crab meat for later use.

Make the dressing

  1. Combine the creamy part from the body and claws in a bowl.

  2. Add anchovy essence, French tarragon vinegar, chili sauce, salad oil, mixed English mustard, French mustard, cayenne pepper, coarse sea salt, stiffly whipped cream, lemon juice, castor sugar, fresh tarragon, and fresh chervil to the bowl.

  3. Mix everything together with a wooden spoon.

Fill and serve

  1. Fill the cleaned crab shell with the mixture, piling it in the center.

  2. Sprinkle the reserved crab meat over the top.

  3. Arrange the small claws around the filled crab shell and garnish with parsley.

  4. Serve for breakfast, luncheon, or as a second course.

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. Tarragon + mustardtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together901 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  2. Anchovy + saucetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Tarragon + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,399 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Tarragon + vinegartop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,547 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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 provides its rich, sweet flavor.
Stiffly whipped cream
Adds lightness and a smooth, creamy texture to the dressing.
Salad oil
Adds fat that gives the dressing a smooth, emulsified body.
Anchovy essence
Adds a savory, salty depth to the dressing.
French tarragon vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the rich crab and balances the fat.
Mixed english mustard
Adds sharp heat and pungency that cuts through the richness.

The step that matters

Mix the dressing gently into the crab. Overmixing or letting the whipped cream deflate can make the filling dense and loose. Mixing just until combined keeps the dressing light while the oil and cream stay evenly distributed.

Swap the tarragon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (crab, anchovy, vinegar, sauce, mustard, pepper, cream):

  1. Capersfits about as well
  2. Tarragonthe original
  3. Garlicfits less well
  4. Celeryfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against crab, anchovy, vinegar, sauce, mustard, pepper, cream. 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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