James Beard's New Fish Cookery (40 page)

CRABMEAT CREOLE

2 small onions, thinly sliced

1/4 cup olive oil

1 large
or
2 small green peppers, finely shredded

4 tomatoes, peeled and chopped

1 stalk celery, finely chopped

1/2 cup white wine

1 clove garlic, crushed

3 tablespoons tomato paste

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1 pound crabmeat

Sauté the onions in the olive oil until just soft but not browned. Add the peppers, tomatoes, and celery. Cover and simmer for 25 to 30 minutes or until the vegetables are soft and well blended. Add the garlic, tomato paste, and salt and pepper to taste. Finally add the crabmeat and cook until it is thoroughly heated. Serve with rice.

CRABMEAT QUICHE

Pastry for a 9-inch shell

Egg white

1 tablespoon finely chopped celery

2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley

1/4 cup white wine
or
2 tablespoons sherry
or
dry vermouth

About 11/2 cups crabmeat

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

5 eggs

11/2 cups milk

Paprika

Line a 9-inch pie plate with a rich pastry and chill it for at least 1 hour. Brush the bottom of the crust with white of egg. Fill it with a mixture of the celery, parsley, wine, crabmeat, and seasonings. Mix the eggs and milk together thoroughly and pour over the crabmeat mixture. Sprinkle lightly with paprika and bake at 450° for 10 minutes. Reduce the heat to 350° and continue baking until the custard is set, about 20 minutes. Serve as a first course or as the main course at luncheon.

Soft-Shelled Crab

The smaller the soft-shelled crab and the earlier it is caught in the molting process, the tenderer and the better flavored it will be. Usually soft-shelled crab is bought already cleaned at the market, but here is the process in case you must do it yourself. With the aid of a small sharp-pointed knife, fold back the covering at the points of the back, and remove all the spongy bits you find there. Turn the crab over and remove the small apron on the front.

Two or three soft-shelled crabs are usually ample for one portion. There are, of course, some people with hearty appetites who can eat a dozen at a sitting.

SOFT-SHELLED CRABS MEUNIÉRE

8 to 12 soft-shelled crabs, cleaned

Flour

6 to 8 tablespoons butter

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

6 or more tablespoons chopped parsley

Lemon slices

Dip the crabs in flour and cook them in hot butter until they are delicately browned and crisp on the edges. Salt and pepper to taste. Add chopped parsley and transfer to a hot platter. Pour the pan juices over the crabs and serve with lemon slices.

VARIATIONS

Sautéed Crabs Amandine.
Add 1/2 cup of blanched sliced almonds to the pan with the crabs and cook them until they are lightly browned. Pour over the crabs.

Soft-shelled Crabs in Cream.
After removing the sautéed crabs to a platter add 3 tablespoons flour to the pan and stir until lightly browned. Add 11/2 cups heavy cream and stir until thickened and well blended. Add 4 tablespoons Madeira or sherry. Taste for seasoning. Pour the cream sauce over the crabs and serve with fried toast.

SAUTÉED CRABS GRENOBLOISE

Dust 8 to 12 soft-shelled crabs with flour. Sauté, 3 or 4 crabs at a time, in 3 tablespoons of butter and 3 tablespoons of oil, until nicely browned, adding more butter and oil if needed. Remove the crabs to a warm platter and add to the pan the juice of one lemon, 1/3 cup capers, 1/3 cup chopped parsley, and 1/3 cup chopped chives (optional). Swirl sauce in pan, adding a tablespoon or two of butter if you wish, and pour sauce over the crabs. Garnish with paper-thin slices of lemon and serve immediately.

BROILED SOFT-SHELLED CRABS

12 Soft-shelled crabs, cleaned

Flour

1/2 cup butter or more

1/2 cup chopped parsley

2 teaspoons paprika

1 teaspoon salt

Dust the crabs lightly with flour. Arrange them on a broiling rack or in a flat broiling dish. Cream the butter with the seasonings. Dot the crabs liberally with the butter mixture and broil about 3 inches from the heat, basting often and turning once during the cooking. These will take from 5 to 8 minutes to cook, depending upon their size. Serve with the pan juices poured over them.

FRIED SOFT-SHELLED CRABS

Heat fat for frying in your French fryer to 375°. Dip cleaned crabs in flour, then in beaten egg, and then in dry crumbs (bread or cracker). Fry for 4 or 5 minutes or until nicely browned. Remove to absorbent paper and salt and pepper to taste. Serve with tartar sauce (pages 35–36) or sauce rémoulade (page 35).

SOFT-SHELLED CRABS À L’AMéRICAINE

Prepare a sauce à l’Américaine (page 28). Sauté the crabs in olive oil with a finely chopped clove of garlic. Add the sauce and let it all simmer for about 10 minutes. Serve with rice.

King Crab or Alaska Crab

These giant land crabs were known before World War II as Japanese crabs, and great quantities of them were shipped into this country in cans. It was excellent canned crab for creamed dishes, soups, and curries. Now it is a product of Alaska — the fishing beds having come under our supervision since World War II. This delectable and expensive delicacy is obtainable frozen — usually precooked in its shell — and also as cleaned crabmeat. One of the giant center claws is a generous portion. In my opinion it is as fine as any crabmeat I have ever tasted.

KING CRAB SALAD

Cut the meat into good-sized lumps and combine with mayonnaise. Garnish with chopped hard-cooked eggs and capers. Serve on a bed of greens.

BROILED KING CRAB LEGS

Remove just enough of the tough shell of each leg so that you can baste the meat inside freely. You should also consider the diner and allow enough room for him to get in with knife and fork. Brush the meat well with butter and broil over charcoal or under the broiler just long enough to heat it through. (Remember these crabs are precooked.) Baste during the cooking with melted butter and lemon juice or dry sherry. Take care that you do not overcook. Serve with additional melted butter.

CRAB LEGS RÉMOULADE OR MAYONNAISE

Serve the crab legs in the shell after you have thoroughly thawed them. Pass the rémoulade (page 35) or mayonnaise (page 34) and lemon wedges.

KING CRAB À L’AMÉRICAINE

Leave the meat in the shells, but cut each shell in half and sauté very quickly in olive oil. Combine with sauce à l’Américaine (page 28) and serve as you do lobster à l’Américaine.

KING CRAB NEWBURG

See lobster Newburg, pages 396–397.

KING CRAB THERMIDOR

See lobster thermidor, page 398.

KING CRAB SOUFFLÉ

See crabmeat soufflé page 377.

Stone Crabs

This delicacy is found mainly in the South around Key West, Miami, and Palm Beach. Only the large claws are used.

STONE CRAB LEGS BEURRE NOIR

Cook the crabs in a court bouillon (page 18) for 20 minutes. Remove the large claws and serve them, 2 to 4 to a person, with beurre noir and wedges of lemon. (For beurre noir, see page 31.) Save the other parts of the crab for salad or for:

CRABMEAT SAUTÉ FLORIDA

Pick the meat from the crab and sauté 2 cups of it in 1/4 pound butter, tossing it lightly. Salt and pepper to taste and add 4 tablespoons lime juice and 1/4 cup chopped parsley. Serve on fried toast.

VARIATION

Add 4 tablespoons sherry or Madeira.

Crawfish or Crayfish

These are the beloved écrevisses of the French. They are rare in Eastern markets but sold in large quantities in Portland, Seattle, New Orleans, and in Wisconsin and Minnesota.

As a young boy, I often fished for crawfish in the Necanicum River in Oregon, using a piece of liver on a string. Later, I also enjoyed great plates of them, along with many glasses of beer, at Jake’s Crawfish Parlor in Portland. Jake’s crawfish were cooked to perfection in a spiced court bouillon. Years afterward, in more sophisticated days, I ate the fabulous and famed
gratin d’écrevisses
in the great restaurants of France. I have eaten them, too, at the Swedish festivals in August when crawfish are the special dish, accompanied, of course, by aquavit and beer.

In some parts of the country you will find crawfish in the markets the year round. In other areas you must check with your local fish dealer to find when they will be available.

It is hard to tell you just how many crawfish will make a serving. One person can easily eat 10 to 12, but some people may want more than a dozen.

ÉCREVISSES BORDELAISE

24 to 36 crawfish

2 carrots, cut in julienne strips

2 onions, cut in julienne strips

2 stalks celery, cut in julienne strips

4 or 5 tablespoons butter

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

2 cups white wine

11/2 cups tomato sauce

Wash the crawfish well. It is wise to tear off the tiny wing in the center of the tail. This loosens and brings with it the small black intestine.

Prepare a mirepoix: Melt the butter in a large kettle and cook the vegetables in it until they are wilted. Salt and pepper to taste, add the wine, and let it cook for a few minutes. Add the crawfish and cook them just long enough to color their shells — about 5 minutes. Add the tomato sauce. Bring it up to a boil and let it blend with the other seasonings. Taste for seasoning, and pour into a big tureen or bowl. Serve with plenty of saffron rice and a good stout salad of greens.

GRATIN D’ÉCREVISSES

36 crawfish

Court bouillon
or
salted water

1/2 cup creamed butter

Sauce velouté (page 21)

Duchess potatoes,
or
rice
or
a croustade

Grated Gruyère
or
Parmesan cheese

Clean the crawfish (or not, as you prefer) and cook in a court bouillon (page 18) or in salted water. When they are cool enough to handle, remove the meat from the tails, and any meat from the bodies. Keep several of the shells for garnish. Grind the rest of the shells, or pound them in a mortar. Blend them with the creamed butter and force the mixture through a fine sieve.

Prepare a sauce velouté. Stir the crawfish butter into the sauce to color it and give it flavor. Add the crawfish meat and cook just long enough to heat it through.

Pour the crawfish mixture on a flameproof serving dish and surround it with a border of Duchess potatoes or rice. Or pour it into a large croustade, which you have made by hollowing out a loaf of bread and toasting it in the oven. Sprinkle the top with the grated cheese and decorate it with the whole shells. Run the dish under the broiler just long enough to melt the cheese and glaze the top.

COLD CRAWFISH, SPICED

Wash and clean the crawfish, being sure to pull off the tiny wing in the center of the tail. Cook them in a spicy court bouillon (page 18) for about 5 minutes — no more. Cool the crawfish in the court bouillon and let them stand in it for several hours. Serve cold with bread and butter — preferably rye bread — and either beer or a dry white wine, well chilled.

CRAWFISH RÉMOULADE

This is one of my favorites as a first course.

To serve 4 people, cook 36 crawfish in a court bouillon (page 18) and let them cool. When cool enough to handle, remove the meat from the tails. Chill it. To serve, arrange the crawfish meat on a bed of greens and accompany with a well-seasoned sauce rémoulade (page 35).

Lobster

Like Europeans, we are blessed with two types of shellfish called lobster. The “homard,” or lobster with claws, comes from the northern waters around Maine and Nova Scotia. The spiny, or rock, lobster is caught in southern waters, but is only a distant relative of the homard. Both varieties are superb eating, and the homard, especially, is one of the great delicacies of the sea.

The northern European homard is very much like ours, and their Mediterranean langouste resembles our rock lobster, although, to my taste, the Mediterranean variety has much sweeter meat. European lobster is not sold in our markets, but frozen rock lobster tails shipped from South Africa are now generally available and are very popular.

Our native lobsters can be bought whole and already boiled in most markets — or as cooked lobster meat in frozen tins. If you prefer to cook your own, as most people do, you buy a live lobster. Never cook a dead one. The larger the lobster the more likely it is to be tough. The small lobster is the true delicacy.

Some people object to plunging a lobster into boiling water or bouillon while it is still alive. Don’t let this process affect your appetite. Lobsters are most insensitive creatures. Killing them in hot water is almost instantaneous and certainly as merciful as any other method. True, they wriggle. It would be helpful if more American fish dealers would adopt the French custom of trussing the beasts with string when they sell them. This makes the task of popping the lobster into the pot much simpler.

The easiest way to prepare lobster is to boil it. It can be served hot with melted butter and lemon juice, or cold with mayonnaise or any other cold sauce.

BOILED LOBSTER

For a 1-to-11/2-pound lobster use 3 quarts of water and about 3 tablespoons of salt. Or you may use ocean water. Bring the water to a rolling boil. Grab the lobster from behind the head and plunge it into the water. Cover and let it simmer for 5 minutes for the first pound, and 3 minutes more for each additional pound. Remove the lobster from the water and place it on its back. Using a large heavy knife and a hammer or mallet, split it in half from end to end starting at the head. Remove the stomach and intestinal vein.

Do not discard the green liver, or tomalley. It is delicious. In female lobsters you may find a pinkish red deposit — the roe — often called lobster coral. This is one of the choicest bits and can be eaten with the lobster or used in sauce.

The claws should be cracked with a nutcracker so the meat can be easily extracted at the table.

BROILED LIVE LOBSTER