Recipe of the Month: Crab Imperial

 By Julie Rothman with the Baltimore Sun: "A classic Maryland-style crab imperial should have very few ingredients and requires minimum seasoning. It is the crab meat that is the focus of the dish.  When working with crab meat, take care not to pull apart the lumps of meat and always use a fork when combining your ingredients. Never break apart or mash the crabmeat." 

Robert Shoffner writes:  "the accepted wisdom of the region(Maryland) : Crab cakes were to crab imperial what meatloaf was to prime rib. Considering crab imperial a superior dish to crab cakes reflects an understanding that the sweetness of jumbo lump crab is best appreciated in the simplest preparations. "

When my mother-in-law, Jean Hanna passed away, my wife found in her cupboards a set of milk white Glass Bake crab dishes, made by McKee Glass Company. They came in the white, clear, and red. Here's an article about the crab dishes and there is also a Deviled Crab recipe! Maybe we'll make that another month!  We stored them away for years but decided to break them out to re-create the classic Crab Imperial!  I "googled" Imperial Crab and picked the Phillips Company recipe:

Ingredients:

1 lb Jumbo Lump Crab Meat

1 tsp chopped fresh parsley

1 tsp fresh lemon juice

1 egg

1 tsp Seafood Seasoning

1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

3 oz Hellmann's mayonnaise (I read somewhere that Hellmann's is good for baking)

1 tsp melted butter

Combine all Crab Imperial ingredients (EXCEPT THE CRAB MEAT) in a medium mixing bowl and whip until smooth.

In a seperate mixing bowl, add the crab meat and pour Imperial mixture over crab meat.

Blend all ingredients together by tossing very gently in order to avoid breaking delicate crab lump meat.

This recipe filled eight (8) of the Glass Bake crab dishes perfectly! Bake at 400 for 12-15 minutes.

Imperial Topping:

3 oz Hellman's mayonnaise

1 oz half and half

1/2 tsp seafood seasoning

1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice

1/2 tsp Worcestershire Sauce

Pinch of paparika

1/4 cup shredded cheddar or parmesan cheese

Combine all the topping ingredients (EXCEPT THE PAPRIKA AND SHREDDED CHEESE) in a medium mixing bowl and whip until smooth.

After the Imperials are finished baking, remove from oven and switch oven to broil.

Top each dish of crab with the imperial topping. Sprinkly some paprika on each, then add some of the shredded cheese. 

Place in broiler to finish off until cheese has melted and Imperials start to brown. DON'T  WALK AWAY FROM IT! KEEP AN EYE ON IT!

Serve with toasted baguettes or crackers.