|
|
SUMMER
TIME AND THE COOKING IS EASY
Hot tips on cool crab dishes
It’s easy to love rich, sweet, buttery crabmeat. But some seafood
lovers get stumped when it comes to actually cooking crab. The Louisiana
Seafood Board offers these tips for the home cook.
HOW IS CRAB SOLD?
Seafood delis and grocery stores sell crabs live, boiled or steamed.
During the summer time home cooks host backyard crab boils and serve
crabs with corn on the cob and new potatoes. The picnics are all-you-can-eat
events.
Retailers also sell fresh-picked crabmeat. It’s simply boiled
or steamed, unseasoned, and ready-to-eat. This is a good starting
point for the uninitiated.
Traditionally, there are four kinds of crabmeat: Lump, Special, Claw
and Crab Fingers. Lump, the chunks of white body meat, is the most
prized and best used in showy, elegant dishes, crabmeat au gratin,
and salads.
Special is the white flaked body meat best used in crab cakes, crab
balls and other recipes that call for blends of ingredients.
The Claw meat is latte-colored and some say the most flavorful. Nice
for stuffed eggplants and crabs, Claw meat features both economy and
taste.
Crab Fingers are the pincers themselves broken to expose the meat
and served as appetizers.
Don’t be confused by the variance in today’s language.
Lump is sometimes called Jumbo Lump; Special is also called All Lump;
and Crab Fingers can be Cocktail Claws.
HOW IS CRABMEAT PACKAGED?
Fresh-picked crabmeat is sold in one pound, tightly-sealed, containers.
Check for proper labels: kind of meat (Lump, Special, Claw, Crab Fingers),
name of crab plant and city, date packaged, weight (16 oz.), and Country
of Origin.
For the best taste and quality, always choose American products. It’s
a choice that supports our country’s rich coastal heritage and
a culture that built the seafood industry.
Crabbing families have harvested the Blue Crab along the Atlantic
and Gulf of Mexico for generations and established it as the finest
tasting crab on the market. Don’t get confused by imports --
that scientists say are misidentified as Blue Swimming Crabs.
Louisiana also distributes pasteurized crabmeat. Processed and packaged
in hermetically sealed cans, it has a shelf life of one year.
HOW DO I STORE CRAB MEAT?
Fresh seafood should be well-iced at all times. Store it in the coldest
spot in your refrigerator and use a thermometer to keep your refrigerator
set below 40ºF.
The shelf life of fresh-picked crabmeat is 10 – 12 days from
the Date Packaged, so as a general rule, use it within two to three
days of purchase.
Crabmeat can be frozen for up to two months with fair results. Using
a thermometer, keep freezer below 0º F; prechill the crabmeat; package
it in small, moisture proof, vapor proof containers; expel air before
sealing containers. Spread out in the freezer for rapid freezing.
Thaw in the refrigerator for a day.
NUTRITIONAL VALUES
Seafood is an excellent, low-calorie source of protein, minerals and
vitamins. It’s high in cholesterol, yet very low in saturated
fat -- the element that facilitates processing cholesterol. And it’s
one of the only sources of Omega-3.
Studies indicate that consuming 1.4 grams of Omega-3 weekly can reduce
the risk of cardiac arrest by 50 percent. According to the USDA, one
serving of crabmeat (3.5 oz) provides .3 g of this important polyunsaturated
fatty acid.
HOW DO I SERVE CRABMEAT?
Easily and delicately, to preserve the exquisite flavor. Try these
summer specials: a one-dish salad and an appetizer.
Crabmeat Salad Nicoise
from Nice, Italy
serves 4
1 lb. Louisiana lump crabmeat
8 new potatoes
1 lb. green beans, sliced in halves
1/3 cup olive oil
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
2 green onions, chopped
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
6 cups or 1 head butter lettuce, torn
1/4 cup small ripe black olives
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
Boil potatoes 15 minutes or until tender, drain, cool 10 minutes,
cut in half, place in shallow dish. Boil beans 10 minutes, drain,
cool, add to potatoes. In a small jar with a tight lid pour oil, vinegar,
onion, salt & pepper, and shake well; pour 2/3 of dressing over
potatoes & beans, stir, cover, and refrigerate 2 – 24 hours.
To serve, arrange lettuce on four plates, spoon potato mix on top,
divide crabmeat among four plates, garnish with tomatoes and olives,
drizzle with dressing.
Louisiana Crab & Spinach Wontons
Serves 5-7 as appetizer
1 lb. Louisiana crab claw meat
1/2 ten-oz. package frozen chopped spinach, thawed & well drained
1 cup ricotta cheese
1 tbls. rice vinegar
2 clove garlic, sliced
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
4 doz. fresh or frozen wontons, thawed
butter-flavored cooking spray
Mix all ingredients except crab & wontons in food processor until
smooth. Fold in crab. Spoon 2 tsp.onto center of wonton. Brush edges
lightly with water. Fold corners up & twist together gently. Place
on baking sheet. Spray tops lightly. Bake at 425º F 5-10 minutes until
browned. Uncooked Crabmeat Wontons can be frozen, then thawed and
baked when ready.
|
