re: SUBMISSION Thread for Crab Challenge 2.15.22

This is about $1700 worth of crabmeat.

I made a smoked crab dip for the SB. My objective was to make a smoked crab dip akin to a smoked fish dip, but way better (and way more expensive) because it's crab.

First, a pound of lump.


I mixed some mayo, lemon juice, worcetershire sauce, diced onions, LA hot sauce, Tony's, and creole mustard.


I folded that mixture into the crabmeat and put it in a small cast iron skillet and topped it with a little Tony's.


Onto the kettle with a couple of apple chunks for smoke.



After 45 minutes of smoking, I added some green onions, Tony's, and hot sauce.


Money shot...

This is a very "crabby" dish. The crab flavor is very up front with just a little kick from the smoke and seasonings, and it came out very moist. It was a big hit with my next door neighbors, who came over for the game. He's a Dolphins fan, and all he did was complain about Tua...

I am really thankful for this challenge as an excuse to drop a lot of money on one of my favorite shellfish. Being Valentines Day was the perfect storm.

Malaysian Coconut Curry with Dungeness and King Crab


Started out first by making a chicken stock with yellow onion, green onion, garlic, carrots, celery, salt, pepper, raw neck and back bones and a smoked carcass from Super Bowl festivities. Overall I think it went about 7.5 hrs. Strained then portioned what I needed for this dish.




Next, I soft boiled some eggs for 6 minutes then marinated in soy and spices. I actually did this in another challenge and used the leftover marinade I had stored. I don’t know what it was but these eggs were ridiculously hard to peel. I really only got one perfect out of 6.



The most complicated part of the dish was the laksa paste. Normally I would bust out the mortar and pestle, but this was too big and I was short on time. C’est la vie. First up, rehydrate dried shrimp and dried chilies for about 15 mins. While that’s going, I prepped the rest of the ingredients. Shallots, lemongrass, garlic, cashews, turmeric, paprika, cumin, coriander, coconut oil, and grated galangal. I normally opt for ginger when it is mentioned, but I saw this in the store and decided to give it a try. Similar, but definitely a different smell, a little more herbaceous.





I put everything into the food processor, blended it up, then put in a pan to sauté for a few minutes.



While that was going I put chicken stock, coconut milk, lime leaves, lime juice, fish sauce, and palm sugar in a pot and got the soup going.




Added in the laksa paste, stirred it up then realized I forgot the secret ingredient. Shrimp paste. So in it goes. Better late than never.



Rice noods on.



I threw the crab pieces in the soup to let them absorb some flavor and get a little sticky. I removed them and tossed them with some more lemongrass, Thai basil, and cilantro. Picture viet-style crabfish. I forgot to take a picture post toss, though.



Plated noodles and crab. Then poured hot broth and added marinated egg, lime, basil, and cilantro.




Time to dig in. Overall the broth was great but the addition of the crab really put it over the top.

Just have to say as usual that these dishes all look amazing