Deviled Crab

Deviled Crab 

I have adored Deviled Crab since I was a little girl. That might seem unexpected given that I grew up in the Blue Ridge Mountains, hundreds of miles inland, but they were on the menu of the fish camps where my family often ate on weekends. Casual mom-and-pop seafood restaurants known as fish camps were once common in blue-collar communities and mill towns, places where families could eat out affordably on pay day. I was fascinated that the deviled crab baked in repurposed crab shells. My cousins were less fond (read: a little scared) of those pointy shells, so I was able to swap ordinary French fries for their deviled crab.  

That memory hadn’t come to mind in years until I was on the crab fishing field trip with Tia Clark, who mentioned she, too, grew up eating and loving deviled crab. I knew as soon as she said it that I was going to share a great deviled crab recipe on the show. Here it is.  

You can often find ready-to-use cleaned crab shells at the markets where you purchase the crabmeat. The shells are small, so you’ll likely need two per serving. Individual gratin dishes also work.  

Makes 4 to 6 entrée servings 

Ingredients  

• 6 tablespoons butter, divided
• 1/2 cup finely chopped celery
• 1/2 cup finely chopped red bell pepper
• 1/4 cup finely chopped scallions, white and tender green parts
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 2 tablespoon yellow mustard
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 2 hard-cooked eggs, grated or finely chopped
• 20 saltine crackers, coarsely crushed, divided
• 1 pound lump crabmeat, picked through for bits of shell
• Lemon wedges, for serving

Directions

Heat the oven to 400°F.  

Place 4 tablespoons of the butter in a small saucepan set over medium heat. Add the celery, bell pepper, scallions, and salt. Cook until tender, stirring often, about 3 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl and set aside to cool slightly. 

Add the mayonnaise, mustard, Worcestershire, black pepper, cayenne pepper, and stir to combine. Add the eggs and 1/2 cup of the cracker crumbs and stir to combine. Gently fold in the crabmeat, so as not to break up the lumps. 

Evenly divide the mixture among 16 prepared crab shells or 8 individual gratin dishes sitting on a parchment lined baking sheet.  

Melt the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter in a small bowl, add the remaining cracker crumbs, and toss to combine. Sprinkle evenly over the crab mixture and bake until golden brown, 15 to 18 minutes. Set aside to cool for 5 minutes and then serve warm with lemon wedges.  

©Copyright 2024 Sheri Castle  

Sheri Castle, award-winning food writer and cooking teacher, is known for melding culinary expertise, storytelling and humor, so she can tell a tale while making a memorable meal. Her creative, well-crafted recipes and practical advice inspire people to cook with confidence and enthusiasm. She's written a tall stack of cookbooks and her work appears in dozens of magazines. In 2019, the Southern Foodways Alliance named Sheri among Twenty Living Legends of Southern Food, calling her The Storyteller.

Sheri says that she's fueled by great ingredients and the endless pursuit of intriguing stories, usually about the role that food plays in our lives, families, communities and culture.

When she steps away from the kitchen or a local farm, Sheri enjoys spending quiet time at her home near Chapel Hill. She hails from the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina.