James Beard's New Fish Cookery - James Beard [125]
Crabmeat is expensive; however, there is no waste, and a pound will serve 4 people well.
If you are cooking live crabs — which is unlikely unless you go crabbing — boil them in sea water or in a mild court bouillon, allowing 8 minutes for each pound of crab. When the crab is cool, remove its back and the spongy parts under the shell. Then remove the apron and split the body so you can take out the meat. Crack the claws and take the meat from them.
I have vivid memories of the preparation of the crabs that we caught on the Pacific Coast when I was young. The system followed by my mother and most of our neighbors was to remove the back and clean the crab before plunging it into the boiling sea water. Supposedly the flavor was much better if the crab were cleaned first. These crabs — the Dungeness variety — were cooled and then used for many special dishes. My favorite was, and still is, a feast of cracked crab and mayonnaise freshly made with good olive oil, flavored with lemon juice, mustard, salt, pepper, and a touch of tarragon. With good bread and butter and a bottle of chilled white wine, this is the absolute ultimate for a summer luncheon.
CRABMEAT VINAIGRETTE
Arrange 1 pound of crabmeat (either Dungeness or blue crab) on romaine or lettuce. Cover with the vinaigrette sauce (page 36) and sprinkle with fresh or dried tarragon.
CRABMEAT COCKTAIL OR CRABMEAT AS A FIRST COURSE
Most restaurants insist on smothering crab with a hot tomato sauce that kills its elegant flavor. If more of them would only learn to send you a choice of different sauces for crabmeat, I’m sure the dining-out public would be pleased. Here are a few suggestions.
1. Serve fine lump or leg crabmeat on a bed of watercress or romaine. Top with a sauce rémoulade (page 35).
2. Arrange crabmeat on a bed of shredded Boston or leaf lettuce and serve with a Russian dressing. Garnish with hard-cooked egg slices.
3. Serve large lump crabmeat — or the choicest Dungeness crab legs — garnished with paper-thin slices of peeled tomato and very thinly sliced onions. Pass a bowl of well-flavored olive oil mayonnaise and capers.
CRAB LEGS PALACE COURT
This is one of the most famous first course specialties in the country. It has been one of the outstanding dishes at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco for generations. It was a favorite at the old Wednesday luncheons and is truly an American classic.
Start with a bed of shredded lettuce — preferably leaf or Boston lettuce. Then add a large artichoke heart filled with salade Russe (a mixture of cooked tiny peas, finely diced cooked carrot, finely cut cooked snap beans, and diced cooked potatoes bound together with mayonnaise). Arrange 5 or 6 large crab legs on the salade Russe and top with a Thousand Island dressing or a Russian dressing. Surround the base of the artichoke with finely chopped hard-cooked egg and garnish with strips of green pepper or pimiento.
CRAB LOUIS
This is another dish that comes from the Pacific Coast. The late Helen Evans Brown said it was served at Solari’s in San Francisco in 1914. If I’m not mistaken, the father of the late West Coast writer Richard L. Neuberger served it in his Bohemian Restaurant in Portland. Oregon, at that time, too. At any rate, the old Bohemian served the finest. Louis I have ever eaten.
It is very easy to make this superb dish. Begin with a bed of finely shredded lettuce. Heap plenty of crabmeat on top and garnish with quartered hard-cooked eggs and quartered tomatoes. Pour a Louis dressing (page 36) over all.
AVOCADO STUFFED WITH CRABMEAT
This is a very popular first course in Florida and in the West. My favorite sauce for