How to Stuff Crabs

Whether you serve one shell as a side dish or three as a main dish with a hot potato, "stuffed crabs" is an irresistible recipe. Although elaborate, fairly expensive and somewhat high in cholesterol, once tried, it brings people back again and again. Many stuffed crab recipes originate in fishing villages from our grandmothers' generation. Then crabs were caught by the bucket and people could peel them by the dozen. Read on to learn more.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Things You’ll Need:

• 1 cup finely chopped white onion
• 1 cup finely chopped celery
• 1/2 cup finely chopped green bell pepper
• 4 cloves finely chopped garlic
• 1/4 pound soya batter
• 4 oz. evaporated milk and one egg, thoroughly mixed together
• 4 slices of bread
• Pan and cooking spatula
• 1 lb. crabmeat
• 1/2 cup green onions
• 1/4 tbsp. salt
• black pepper
• 1 tbsp. olive Creole Seasoning
• 1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 cup dried breadcrumbs
• 1/3 cup parsley, finely chopped
• Oven

1. Look in a fish market for at least a dozen crab shells of large commercial crabs such as Blue or Dungeness crabs. If you obtain fresh ones from a fish market, make sure you wash any crabmeat residue. If you can't find real ones, pseudo-crab shells will do. If plastic ones aren't available, shape your own out of hard aluminum foil.
2. Buy one pound of crabmeat from your local fish market or food store. If you can't find authentic crabmeat, you can use less expensive imitation crabmeat made of pollock.
3. Make ready the first seven ingredients (from "Things You'll Need"). Break the bread into pieces and soak it with the milk/egg mixture.
4. Heat the butter in a pan from medium to low fire. Sauté the onions for five minutes. Then add the bell pepper and the celery and sauté the mixture for 15 minutes. Add the garlic and sauté for another five minutes.
5. Add ingredients 9 through 14 (crabmeat through Worcestershire sauce) to the pan. Sauté for about 10 minutes on low heat while stirring continuously.
6. Introduce the dried breadcrumbs, the bread pieces soaked with the milk and egg, and the parsley. Simmer on low heat and stir well for approximately 10 minutes. Sample and add seasonings if needed.
7. Stuff the mixture into the shells. Season them with sprinkled breadcrumbs. Put the shells in the top rack of the oven and cook for about 20 minutes at 400°F. Serve and enjoy the stuffed crabs.

Tips & Warnings

• You can add more bread to enhance the stuffing, but you'll need more seasoning as well.
• When baking the recipe in Step 7, make sure the mixture doesn't dry.