Whole Blue Crabs New Orleans Style Recipes

Steps:

• Combine the beer and vinegar with 1 cup of water in a very large pot. Add a steamer insert and bring the liquid to a boil over high heat. Add the crabs and 1/4 cup of the Old Bay and cook, covered, until the crabs are bright red, 20 to 30 minutes, depending on the size. Transfer the crabs to a large platter and sprinkle with the remaining 1/4 cup Old Bay.
• Serve the hot crabs with the Spicy Butter and lemon wedges on the side.
• Make the butter while the crabs cook: combine the butter, Old Bay, cayenne and garlic in a small saucepan over medium heat. Melt the butter, skimming off any foam that rises to the surface. Pour the melted butter into a small ramekin, leaving the milk solids in the saucepan.

Steps:

• Heat the margarine in a saucepan until it bubbles. Add all the sauce ingredients except the milk and flour, and sauté until the vegetables are well browned and sticking a little bit to the pan. Remove from heat and set aside for 15 minutes.
• After 15 minutes, add the evaporated milk and 3/4 cup of water to the saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring lightly.
• While the boil is coming up, whisk the flour into 3 oz. of water. After the pan comes to a boil, stir the flour-water mixture slowly into the other ingredients. Simmer for three minutes, until the sauce is thick.
• Spoon the sauce into a pan and refrigerate overnight.
• To complete the dish, preheat the oven to 425 F degrees. Mix the bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, and paprika together.
• Put about 3 oz. crabmeat into a scallop shell or small au gratin dish. Top with 5 oz. of the chilled sauce, then sprinkle with the bread crumb mixture.
• Bake at 425 F degrees until the crumbs brown and the sides of the dish begin to bubble--20-25 minutes.
• Remove from the oven and top each with 1 teaspoon melted margarine.
• Serve very hot.

Steps:

• Cook bacon is a large frying pan with a little oil on low to get the grease out of the bacon.
• Chop pepper, tomato, onion, celery and carrots, then add to the bacon in the frying pan. Let simmer for about 15-20 minutes on medium low heat.
• Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
• In a large glass bowl add cream (you can add more or less if you like your bisque thicker or thinner then the recipe calls for), add crab meat, and corn(still frozen).
• Put a strainer over top of a small bowl. Take your frying pan with the vegetables and bacon and strain the grease from them into the bowl. Add 3 heaping tablespoons of corn starch to the grease and stir. After blended well add 1 tablespoon of zatarains crab boil to the grease/cornstarch mixture. (you can add more crab boil if you like yours spicier). Stir the crab boil into the mixture.
• Add grease/cornstarch/crab boil mixture to the bowl with the crab, cream, and corn. Stir well.
• Cover the bowl with foil and bake on 325 degrees for 45 minutes. Stir the mixture every 15 minutes, and remove the foil during the last 10 minutes of cooking.
• Optional garnish: sprinkle with pepper and add a little parsley.