Charleston Deviled Crab

Lump crab bound with just enough buttered cracker crumb and mustard, packed back into crab shells and baked until the tops brown. The heat comes from dry mustard and a little cayenne, so the crab still tastes like crab.

Ingredients

• 1 lb fresh lump or backfin crabmeat, picked over for shell
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup finely diced yellow onion
• 1/3 cup finely diced celery
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 large egg, beaten
• 1/4 cup mayonnaise
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 1 teaspoon dry mustard
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 cup crushed saltine crackers (about 24 crackers)
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted, for the topping
• Lemon wedges, to serve
• 6 cleaned crab shells or 6 small ramekins

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Butter the crab shells or ramekins and set them on a baking sheet.
2. Melt the 4 tablespoons butter in a skillet over medium heat. Cook the onion and celery until soft, about 5 minutes, then add the garlic for the last 30 seconds. Let the mixture cool slightly.
3. In a bowl, whisk together the egg, mayonnaise, Dijon, dry mustard, Worcestershire, parsley, cayenne, and salt.
4. Fold in the cooked vegetables and half of the cracker crumbs, then gently fold in the crabmeat. Keep the lumps as whole as you can.
5. Divide the mixture among the shells, mounding it slightly.
6. Toss the remaining cracker crumbs with the 2 tablespoons melted butter and scatter over the tops.
7. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until the tops are golden and the filling is hot through.
8. Serve hot with lemon wedges.

Tips

• Go easy on the binder. The dish should hold together when you cut it but taste mostly of crab, not cracker.
• Real cleaned blue crab shells make the prettiest presentation, but buttered ramekins bake up just as well if you're buying picked crab.