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Crab a LA Rosette

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Carrot and turnip match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,002 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Crab a LA Rosette

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Chill a plain timbale mold in a basin of ice.

  2. Line the mold with ⅛ inch thick aspic jelly.

  3. Decorate the bottom with a 1 inch deep layer of cooked vegetables.

  4. Arrange a ring of cucumber peas or green peas around the edge.

  5. Set the garnish with a little aspic jelly.

  6. Pour a layer of crab puree, prawn, or lobster into the mold to match the vegetable depth.

  7. Let it partly set, then add another layer of vegetables at a slant.

  8. Pour on a little aspic to set this layer.

  9. Add another layer in the opposite direction and set with aspic.

  10. Fill the mold with crab puree and let it set completely.

  11. To serve, dip the mold in hot water and turn it out onto a cold dish.

  12. Surround the base with rounds of aspic jelly.

  13. Garnish each corner with cooked vegetables mixed with mayonnaise sauce.

  14. Top each vegetable bunch with cooked prawns.

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. Carrot + turniptop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,002 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Turnip + beanstop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together400 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Carrot + beanstop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,443 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

  4. Turnip + cucumbertop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together226 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Cucumber + beanstop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together602 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

Swap the cucumber

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (carrot, turnip, beans, crab, lobster, sauce, pepper):

  1. Lettucefits better
  2. Spinachfits better
  3. Beetrootfits better
  4. Cucumberthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against carrot, turnip, beans, crab, lobster, sauce, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

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