Spoonful II
Patrick Day
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La Belle Cuisine - More Seafood Recipes

Fine Cuisine with Art Infusion

"To cook is to create. And to create well...is an act of integrity, and faith."

Herbs and Spices Crab Boil

"If you don't love life you can't enjoy an oyster; there is a shock of freshness
to it and intimations of the ages of man, some piercing intuition of the sea and
all its weeds and breezes.  [They] shiver you for a split second."
~ Eleanor Clark

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Crabs I
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Friday, November 10, 2006

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Don't forget the candlelight!

 
Dungeness Crab
Shane Reiswig
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Herbs and Spices Crab Boil


Herbs: A Country Garden Cookbook
by Rosalind Creasy and Carole Seville, 1995, Collins Publishers San Francisco

“In Louisiana parlance, a boil is the mixture of herbs and spices added to stock for cooking crab – or crawfish or shrimp – for a zesty feast. In this recipe, dried herbs, preferably garden-grown and home-dried, play a major role, along with an assortment of spicy seeds.”

Herbs and Spices Boil:
2 teaspoons dried sweet basil
1 teaspoon dried sweet marjoram
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon dried chives
3 dried bay laurel leaves, coarsely chopped
1 dried Tabasco or cayenne chili pepper, stemmed and coarsely chopped
1/4 cup coriander seeds
1/4 cup mustard seeds
2 tablespoons ground allspice
2 tablespoons celery seeds
2 tablespoons dill seeds
1 tablespoon ground cloves

 8 quarts water
2 tablespoons salt
2 lemons, sliced
2 stalks celery, plus the small, light green inner heart with leaves attached
1 yellow onion, sliced
4 to 4 1/2 pounds live crabs

To prepare the herbs and spices boil, combine all the ingredients in a large bowl. With the tips of your fingers, lightly crumble the herb leaves and stir to mix well with other ingredients. Place the mixture on a double layer of cheesecloth. Bring the corners together to form a pouch and tie securely with kitchen string.

In a 10- to 12-quart enameled [or stainless steel] kettle, combine the water, salt, lemons, celery, onion and cheesecloth pouch. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to medium, cover and simmer for 20 minutes.

Uncover, raise the heat to high and bring to a rolling boil. Add the crabs and boil briskly for 10 to 15 minutes, or until the shells turn bright red. Turn off the heat and allow the crabs to remain in the water for 10 minutes.

Remove the crabs with tongs and discard the cooking liquid. When cool enough to handle, crack the crabs and pile them on a large serving platter. Serve hot or cold. Serves 4 to 6.

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