Crab Salad Recipe

I love crab salad, and today I'm sharing with you a great crab salad recipe. If you’ve been reading my cooking hubs lately, you know that I’ve been using a lot of pescatarian recipes. I was following a strict pescatarian diet, but because of health issues, I’m eating beef or pork now about once a week. And…I found a local slaughterhouse that follows strict Humane Kill guidelines, so I don’t feel as bad about eating mammals. Anyway, tonight for dinner, hubby and the two granddaughters had pepperoni pizza, and I made myself some crab salad. I love crabmeat and crab recipes, and the flesh from blue crabs is my favorite type of crabmeat. I had some in the fridge, and at first, I was thinking of crab cakes. Then I saw some lettuce in the refrigerator, and I decided on a salad. That’s how I came up with this crab salad recipe.

The type of crab meat you use in your crab salad is important. After all, it’s the main ingredient, and the most important. I used refrigerated blue crab meat for this salad, but it’s even better when you catch and pick your own blue crabs. Of course, other types of edible crabs can be used, too. If you have leftover crab legs, retrieve the meat and use it in this recipe for crab salad. Don’t be tempted, however, to take the cheap route and use non-refrigerated canned crab meat. It really doesn’t have enough flavor to use in crab salad. I’ve tried imitation crab in this recipe, but it’s not nearly as tasty as the real thing. To save money on making a big batch of seafood salad, you might want to consider adding some imitation crab meat to some real crab and real shrimp.

In my opinion, the best crab salad uses lump crab meat. In fact, I find that to be true with most crab recipes. Unfortunately, lump crab meat is usually more expensive, and you have to be careful when combining the meat with the other ingredients. The lumps are pretty fragile, so if you do too much stirring or mixing, you’ll break the lumps apart. Also, I do know some people who prefer flaked crab in their crab salad, so you need to decide which form of crab you want to use.

You’ll need to “sift” through the crab meat with your fingers to search for shards of shell and bits of cartilage. They’re almost always present in refrigerated crabmeat. After removing a couple of pieces of shell, I sprinkled the crabmeat with lime juice and let the juice “soak in” for a few minutes. Next, I gently squeezed the crabmeat in several layers of paper towels to remove all the crab juice and the lime juice. There was still enough lime juice to give the crabmeat just a hint of flavor. Once these steps have been accomplished, you can continue with the recipe.

This recipe for crab salad is quick, easy, and super yummy. You get lots of real crab flavor, with just enough seasonings to ehance the natural flavor of the crab without overwhelming or disquising it.