Deviled Crabs

Ingredients

• one-half pound of butter
• one tablespoonful of flour
• one large tumbler-ful of rich cream
• one boiled soft onion mashed to a paste or pulp
• a little grated nutmeg
• season with salt
• season with cayenne pepper
• enough to fill eight crab shells
• a raw egg or two
• cover with grated breadcrumbs or cracker dust
• a small lump of butter on top of each

Method

1. 1

   Put butter in a saucepan with flour, cook while stirring.

2. 2

   Add cream, mashed onion, nutmeg, salt, and cayenne.

3. 3

   Stir in crab meat and raw eggs, cook until thick.

4. 4

   Pour onto a dish to cool, fill crab shells, egg wash, cover with breadcrumbs, and bake or fry until golden.

As published

This recipe was extracted from The Cook Book, by "Oscar" of the Waldorf (1896) by Oscar Tschirky, page 36. The excerpt below is the record exactly as published.

Deviled Crabs. Put one-half pound of butter into a saucepan with, one tablespoonful of flour, and cook together, stirring it continually to prevent its burning; add to it one large tumbler- ful of rich cream, one boiled soft onion mashed to a paste or pulp, a little grated nut- meg, and season with salt and cayenne pepper. Then put in the crab meat, enough to fill eight crab shells and a raw egg or two, stir all together well and cook until it begins to thicken, which will only take a few minutes; then pour it all on a flat dish and allow it to stand until cold. Now fill the back crab shells with the mixture, egg them over with a brush and cover with grated breadcrumbs or cracker dust. Place them in a baking^an, put a small lump of butter on top of each, and bake in a slow oven to a light brown color, or fry them in plenty of hot lard. Crabs in Shells. Boil a few crabs, pick out the meat and place the coral on one side. Chop up the meat, add to it one onion, ground ginger, lemon juice, mushroom catsup, salt and pepper ; put the mixture into a fryingpan with butter and cook until the butter is absorbed. Pour in a little stock, boil until nearly evaporated, then remove the pan from the fire. Butter five of the crab shells and fill them with the mixture. Grind the coral, mingle it with some breadcrumbs, sprinkle this over the mixture, put a few small lumps of butter on the tops, place the shells in the oven, and bake for a few minutes. Minced Crabs. Place the finely chopped meat of three crabs into a saucepan, pour over one wine- glassful of white wine and one of vinegar, and season to taste with salt, pepper, and cayenne pepper. Cook over a moderate fire for about ten minutes, and add two SHELL-FISH. 95 ounces of warmed butter, mixed with one boned anchovy, and stir in the well beaten yolks of two eggs. Sprinkle in sufficient breadcrumbs to thicken properly, turn the whole out on to a dish, and serve with parsley for a garnish. Crabs, Queen Style. Pick about a dozen hard-shell boiled crabs into as large pieces as possible; mix them in a salad bowl, with one-half breakfast cupful of sliced celery or shredded lettuce, one-half pinch of pepper, one pinch of salt, one tablespoonful of olive oil, and one and one-half tablespoonfuls of vinegar. Refill six well cleaned shells with the salad, and on each one lay one tablespoonful of mayonnaise sauce ; and sprinkle over with chopped hard boiled egg, the yolk separated from the white, some crab or lob- ster coral, and one teaspoonful of chopped parsley, every article to be used sepa- rately in order that each color may be distinct. Serve on a dish with a folded napkin, or ornamental dish-paper. Crab Ravigote. Boil some large hard-shell crabs, after which put them aside to become cold. Then turn them over on the hard shell side and with a sharp knife cut the breast away. Pick the meat off, clean it nicely, being careful not to leave any pieces of shell in it, and season lightly with salt and pepper. Mix with thick remoulade sauce and fill up one of the shells, which has previously been washed clean, with the mix- ture. The meat of two good-sized crabs so treated will be sufficient to fill the inside of one shell. Cover the meat with mayonnaise and decorate with fillet of anchovy and sliced pickles. Serve on a folded napkin with branches of parsley and quartered lemon. Stewed Crabs. Take eight live crabs and steam for twenty minutes; pick out the meats, put it in a saucepan with one-half pint of milk or cream and stew for fifteen or twenty min- utes. Season with cayenne pepper

Cook this with the app: pantry check, scaling, and the assistant.