The encyclopædia of practical cookery

Crab Soup with Okras. —To make 4qts. of soup, peel and slice two onions, and fry them brown in 2 table-spoonfuls of dripping or butter ; fry with the onions a thin slice of ham weighing about Jib., and a knuckle of veal chopped, or about 21b. of any cheap cut of veal containing plenty of bone. Whilst these ingredients are frying, wash two dozen pods of Okra in cold water, and slice them thin, throwing away the stems. When the onions and meat are brown, add the Okra to them with 4qts. of boiling water, a small fresh green or red pepper chopped fine, and a seasoning of salt, and simmer the soup Crabs — continued. slowly for two hours, keeping the pot covered. Meanwhilo pick all the meat from six boiled Crabs, and fry it brown, with a small onion sliced and 1 table-spoonful of butter, and peel and slice one dozen medium-sized tomatoes. Four softshell Crabs fried in quarters may be used instead of hard-shell Crabs. Add the fried Crab-meat and the sliced tomatoes to the soup at the end of two hours, and let it simmer slowly for two hours longer, keeping it closely covered to prevent evaporation. If it has decreased in quantity, add sufficient boiling water to make it up to 4qts. ; remove the bones and any pieces of meat which have not boiled to shreds, season carefully, and serve the soup hot. Crab Stew. — Steam 1 peck of live Crabs for twenty minutes ; pick out the flesh, put it in a saucepan with 1 pint of milk or cream, and stew it for fifteen minutes- Season with salt and cayenne pepper. Devilled Crabs.— (1) Put Jib. of butter into a saucepan with 1 table-spoonful of flour, and cook together, stirring constantly to prevent burning ; add to it 1 large tumblerful of rich cream, one onion that has been boiled soft and mashed up into a paste or pulp, a little grated nutmeg, and season with cayenne and salt. Then put in the Crab-meat and a raw egg or two, stir all well together, and cook for a few minutes, or until it begins to thicken ; then pour it all on a flat dish and let it remain until cold. Now fill the back shells of the Crabs with the mixture, egg them over with a soft brush, and cover with grated breadcrumbs or cracker-dust. Lay them in a baking-pan, put a small piece of butter on top of each, and bake in a moderate oven to a delicate brown colour, or fry them in plenty of hot frying-lard. (2) Boil a dozen Crabs, and remove the meat from the shells and claws ; add to the meat an equal quantity of bread- or cracker-crumbs, J teacupful each of Worcestershire sauce and mixed mustard, 1 teaspoonful of salt, 1 saltspoonful of pepper, half that quantity of cayenne, 2 table-spoonfuls of melted butter, and just enough milk to moisten these ingredients so that they can be mixed thoroughly. Fill the Crab-shells with this mixture, dust them with cracker- or breadcrumbs, arrange them in a pan, put a small piece of butter on each, and quickly brown them in a very hot oven. Serve hot or cold. The seasoning of devilled Crabs should always be high. (3) Pick out the flesh of one dozen cooked Crabs and mix with it 3 table-spoonfuls of breadcrumbs, a little chopped parsley, 2 dessert-spoonfuls of cream, the yolks of three eggs, 1 table-spoonful of butter, and salt and pepper to taste. When well mixed, put it back in the shells, which must have been previously cleaned, and bake in a sharp oven. Serve very hot.