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by Barbara Penny Angelakis
A crab by any other name would not smell as sweetly!
Since being introduced to Jumbo Lump Crab Cakes by my brother-in-law some 30 years ago, I have been on an ongoing, albeit casual, quest for the perfect cake. Over the years I had some good, some not, and many mediocre examples of lump meat crab cakes… and that includes specimens from my own kitchen. Whenever lump meat crab cakes are offered on a menu, my standing question to the waiter before ordering is, do they contain large chunks of green peppers and extensive fillers? You would be amazed at how many waiters, even in well know seafood restaurants, stare at me blankly or like I had two heads – its similar to the look I get when requesting a fish knife after ordering a fish meal that almost certainly will contain bones. Of course fillers aside, the quality of the cake is in direct relationship to the quality of the crab meat, which is after all the main ingredient.
To date the pinnacle of my pursuit of the primo crab cake was reached during a recent brunch at Tavern on The Green in New York City (see Brunch in the City section) . I was so impressed by the quality of crab used in their cakes that when visiting the Summer Fancy Food Show (see Gastronomy section) held at the Jacob Javits Convention Center the following month, I determined to learn more about processed crab meat in the hope I could duplicate, in my own kitchen, Chef Brian Young’s simple and yet simply divine recipe (see Crab Cakes).
The hunt begins! I sampled products from six to eight different producers/distributors/purveyors but stopped dead in my tracks at the Sea Fare Foods Miller’s Select booth. In fact, I returned several times to make sure my first taste was not an anomaly. Here was the most delicious, fresh tasting, solid chunks of crabs I ever tasted and… they came out of a can. While they could not confirm their product was the one used by Chef Young, they did claim to have the premium wild-catch blue clawed crab meat available in the marketplace. It turned out that the lovely young woman behind the counter was not a model hired for the occasion of the show, but was in fact the granddaughter of the company’s founder. Kelsey Miller was more then happy to share her Grandfathers story.
The tale unfolds. Bill Miller, an engineer by training, left his home in Kansas City in 1964 to work on housing construction projects in Thailand. He fell in love with the land, its people, and the abundant blue clawed swimming crab that yielded delicious meat unlike any he had tasted before. So what does any American do when faced with a delicacy unknown to family and friends? He shares. The happy recipients of his largesse soon began asking for more of the delectable tidbits and voila! Miller’s Select as a company was born. But that’s not the end of the story. In order to distribute this very perishable product safely and with its sweet succulent flavors intact, Bill had to put all of his engineering skill into devising harvesting, processing, packaging and shipping methods. An environmentalist, he insisted on developing techniques consistent with sound ecological and sustainable farming procedures, and that was before being green was fashionable. And that is how the unlikely association between Thailand and North Kansas City made that heartland city the epicenter of the highest quality crab meat distribution in the country.
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A few recipes follow, but for a complete list of Miller’s Select recipes visit their website www.seafarefoods.com or call 888.429CRAB (2722). Their literature also contains a description of the grades of wild-catch crab meat – jumbo lump, backfin lump, white meat, claw meat - and which part of the crab they come from, which is a great help in wading through the various packaged items available in gourmet or specialty food shops.
HOT CRAB & ARTICHOKE DIP
1 6 oz. can Jumbo Lump
1 6 oz. can Claw or White Crab Meat
14 oz. can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
¾ cup light mayonnaise
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Preheat over to 350˚. Carefully fold crab meat into the other ingredients, taking care not to shred the crab. Spread mixture into a lightly buttered glass pie dish. Bake for 30 minutes or until bubbly. Serve with crusty rounds of fresh bread.
 RED CURRY WITH CRAB & PINEAPPLE
2 6 oz. cans Jumbo Lump
2 Tbsp. red curry paste
2 cans coconut milk
2 Tbsp. sugar
2 Tbsp. fish sauce
2 cups fresh pineapple chunks
About 12 sprigs fresh basil leaves (Thai basil if available)
Heat curry paste and coconut milk in saucepan. Add sugar, fish sauce, pineapple and basil. Cook until pineapple is soft. Gently add crab meat. Serve with rice.
CRAB IMPERIAL 
2 6 oz. cans Jumbo Lump
3 Tbsp. heavy cream
3 Tbsp. light mayonnaise
l tsp. Dijon mustard
l Tbsp. diced pimentos
½ tsp. paprika
½ tsp. garlic powder
¼ cup breadcrumbs
¼ cup Parmesan cheese
Preheat oven to 350° F. Combine cream, mayonnaise, mustard, pimentos, paprika and garlic powder; stir until well blended. Place drained lumps of crab meat in shells or ceramic dishes, and spoon sauce over crab. Sprinkle tops with dry bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese. Bake for 15 minutes.
© September 2007 LuxuryWeb Magazine. All rights reserved.
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