The Joy of Crab: A Love Affair with the Sea's Finest Treasure

Crab is, without a doubt, one of the greatest culinary delights known to man. And I'm not just whistling Dixie when I say that. There's something about the sweet, succulent flavor and tender texture of crab meat that has captured the hearts (and taste buds) of many a food lover. Whether it's steamed, boiled, or sautéed, crab is always a treat. And let me tell you, I'm a bit obsessed with the stuff.

I mean, what's not to love? The delicate balance of flavors, the satisfying crunch of the shell giving way to tender flesh... it's like a party in your mouth! And don't even get me started on the varieties - Dungeness crab from the Pacific Northwest, king crab from Alaska, Maryland blue crab (the gold standard), and snow crab from the snow-covered mountains. Each one has its own unique charm and character. But at the end of the day, it all comes down to that perfect, flaky piece of blue crab meat.

Now, I know what you're thinking: "But how do I enjoy this culinary treasure?" Well, my friends, let me tell you - there are countless ways to indulge in the majesty of crab. You can make a simple salad with diced crab meat, toss it with some chopped veggies and a vinaigrette dressing, and voilà! Or, if you're feeling fancy, whip up some crab cakes with a crunchy panko crust and serve them on a bed of lettuce or as part of a hearty breakfast plate (more on that in a minute).

But let's get to the really good stuff - crab soup. Ah, yes! A creamy, dreamy bowl of goodness that warms the cockles of your heart and soul. And it's so easy to make! Just sauté some onions and garlic, add in some diced crab meat and a can of tomato soup (yes, you read that right), then let the mixture simmer until it's nice and thick. Serve with some crusty bread or crackers for dipping... heaven!

And speaking of breakfast, have I got a treat for you! Crab Benedict is one of those dishes that's both simple and sublime. You'll need some toasted English muffins (preferably day-old), poached eggs, crispy bacon or ham, and of course, the star of the show: crab meat. Just place a slice of English muffin on a plate, top it with a spoonful of crab meat, a fried egg, and some crispy bacon... and voilà! Breakfast is served.

But what really takes this dish from good to great is the hollandaise sauce. Ah, hollandaise - that most elegant of sauces, made from just three simple ingredients: egg yolks, lemon juice, and melted butter. Sounds easy enough, right? Well, I'll let you in on a little secret: making hollandaise can be a bit intimidating, especially for those who are new to cooking. But trust me, it's worth the effort.

To make a basic hollandaise, you'll need three egg yolks (and don't even think about using anything less), some freshly squeezed lemon juice, and melted butter (yes, we're talking hot, foamy butter). Now, here's where things get a little tricky: adding the butter to the egg yolks in a slow stream while whisking constantly. Sounds like a recipe for disaster, right? But fear not - just be patient, and add that melted butter gradually, whisking continuously until it reaches the perfect creamy consistency.

And voilà! You've got yourself a beautiful, golden hollandaise sauce to serve over your crab Benedict. I mean, what's more decadent than rich, creamy egg yolks swimming in a sea of melted butter? Not much, if you ask me.

Now, I know some of you may be thinking, "But how do I avoid the dreaded broken hollandaise?" Well, my friends, it all comes down to technique. Just remember: add that butter slowly and whisk constantly until it reaches the perfect consistency. And don't over-whisk - we're going for a smooth, creamy texture here, not a frothy one.

And there you have it, folks - crab, in all its glorious forms. From simple salads to rich, indulgent breakfast dishes, this seafood treasure is sure to delight even the most discerning palates. So go ahead, give it a try... your taste buds will thank you!

In the kitchen, I'm always on the lookout for new ways to incorporate crab into my cooking. After all, variety is the spice of life (or at least that's what I keep telling myself). But there's one dish that never fails to impress: poached eggs and hollandaise sauce. It's a classic combination that's both elegant and comforting.

I remember one morning when I was filming Lord of the Rings in New Zealand with Peter Jackson, we had a lovely little breakfast spread on set - including some perfectly poached eggs and rich, creamy hollandaise sauce. And let me tell you, it was love at first bite! There's just something about the way that runny egg yolk flows into the side of your plate...

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhello we're back in the kitchen at munchies and we are going to make Eggs Benedict but not just any eggs benedict okay because it is going to include jumbo lump crab meat or if you live in a place where you have alaska king crab or you like snow crabs Dungeness crabs usually ever crabmeat one this is very flexible one thing I will not be flexible on is that you will use obey because hold it and crab here makes Rachel much like me and Pete bakes and were made for each other old day and crafts I think that I'm the old day in that scenario and he's the PISA crab we're going to poach some eggs are so coaching Ike means you're just going to cook it in water now one trick that I find helps is doing eight cups of water in here and then a quarter cup of white vinegar the white vinegar is going to help kind of set the whites instead of cracking it directly in there pouring it into a bowl just makes it easier to do that and then I do immediately kind of get it a swirl because you can see it kind of seals up the white a little bit I'm gonna do it two and half minutes eggs benedict was invented at some stage by some person okay there's three different stories out there in the world my personal favorite I'm gonna go with is at Delmonico's America's first restaurant here in New York City whoo that's a big Benedict and I like that story so we're gonna stick to that okay some other one says that commander Benedict made these eggs or this dish who knows somehow said someone else made it don't even know who that person was so that's how little I care about the story these are gonna be perfectly cooked look at theirs so cute and then we're gonna put it into this bowl of ice water that kind of holds it you can make these ahead of time you have friends come over for brunch so it's gonna cool it down not overcook it they're gonna say they're next up I'm gonna melt a little bit of my butter right here maybe a couple tablespoons worth and I'm going to toast my buns traditionally well I think of eggs and egg I think of it on an English muffin we've actually a recipe for English muffins on our website anyways they're known for the old nooks and crannies you can use regular toast you could use no bread just put them on top of a crap cake that'd be delicious get it warm to the other side well toasty all right what these are getting nice and toasted golden all right we're gonna add our crab into here and up the butter I also need to melt my butter for my hollandaise okay so this is eight tablespoons one stick exactly we're gonna melt it over low heat sorry now he's just waking up to the smell butter all right grab is going into the butter I'm gonna add some old bay because why wouldn't I oh yes I can't say enough good things about crab just God's gift to man it's really this the crab right you don't even need the season of assault because obey has salt in it what's that feel it wasn't to you as well what ok got Dungeness crab from Pacific Northwest we've got a lot of king crab from Alaska yeah Maryland blue crab primarily snow crab from the snow and it's true I dare you to convict me every crime they're a little bit different this is all from blue crab we've made crab soup crab cakes crab dip crab pretzels seems crab Benedict so many things it's like bubble gum that's me bubbling up a crab come oh man okay this is looking really good and look I'm keeping the lumps whole intact this is also it's so good cuz the way I eat crab if I sit there and I pick it and I make piles like I'm not the kind of person who will take it eat as I go I make a pile of crab meat and then I soak it in butter and then I dip it in an apple cider vinegar and it's so good and so this is basically that and then driving an egg and maybe a breakfast awesome I'm gonna keep my crab meat warm my butter is melted don't want to burn it or anything like that an important here it's gonna be easier for me to add into my hollandaise sauce if I have it and something that was horrible okay no hollandaise literally it could not be easier one of the mother sauces out there as well as tomato sauce professional something else that's something else veloute no espanol and what else I want three egg yolks for this also okay so I'm gonna it is good day how they do something whatever three egg yolks three egg yolks see how they hold onto the bun during video and then we add some where things have no fear it will be delicious don't you marry my dear the three egg yes that's pretty cute I think we can use that rnc alright blender hollandaise people often get a little bit scared like I said about making hollandaise when I was on the old rookie fifth we used to make it in a thermomix and I keep it hot and like one of those foam guns anyway foam it onto the you know I'm talking out those siphons which is great don't get me wrong but no one has that at home and also this is so easy I'm gonna add a little bit of salt into here old bay of course because it wouldn't be crabs eggs benedict without old bay and everything throw it in and then some lemon juice about two tablespoons I'm gonna give this a little bit of a whiz just to kind of get it and multiply it a little bit to start what makes people scared of making hollandaise is this right here all of a sudden they're gonna sit there there if it's like making a mayonnaise your friend it's gonna break to muscle it because you're adding melted butter right on here and you're gonna add it slowly and that is going to allow it to emulsified the key is added slowly in the beginning and then you kind of add it faster than but this is basically I don't think you can break it you can break it but this is like doing it in a blender it just makes it so much easier so if you broke this and use it like it looks like there's about salsa the bottom just gonna ignore that this is ready I'm gonna warm my eggs through in this warm water hands look at his filled eggs nice I'm gonna take off that little tail a bit and dump it on in and they're not gonna overcook her anything they're cooked to perfection beautiful beautiful we're gonna cut this nobody crab on the bottom of us all right eggs are ready that right here don't forget to season your egg with a bit of salt and your avocado as well look we're juice because this tastes so good it's all nice and juicy and lemonade a little bit of black pepper and now our beautiful holidays uh all day you can see it right in there huh yes yes yes almost forgot Sicily a little bit of crispy garlic over the top just for a little bit of crunch and also garlic why not whoo this is gonna be good very easy poached eggs a simple simple hollandaise that was ready so quick oh look at it perfectly poached get a little bit crab liquid avocado English muffin that's worth that this is the breakfast of champions right here so you cook the day after after what you asked I don't know what are you doing make this the next day please the recipe click link below in New Zealand I cooked for Peter Jackson and all the hottest with me and Frodo and him hanging out magician guy was across the way andhello we're back in the kitchen at munchies and we are going to make Eggs Benedict but not just any eggs benedict okay because it is going to include jumbo lump crab meat or if you live in a place where you have alaska king crab or you like snow crabs Dungeness crabs usually ever crabmeat one this is very flexible one thing I will not be flexible on is that you will use obey because hold it and crab here makes Rachel much like me and Pete bakes and were made for each other old day and crafts I think that I'm the old day in that scenario and he's the PISA crab we're going to poach some eggs are so coaching Ike means you're just going to cook it in water now one trick that I find helps is doing eight cups of water in here and then a quarter cup of white vinegar the white vinegar is going to help kind of set the whites instead of cracking it directly in there pouring it into a bowl just makes it easier to do that and then I do immediately kind of get it a swirl because you can see it kind of seals up the white a little bit I'm gonna do it two and half minutes eggs benedict was invented at some stage by some person okay there's three different stories out there in the world my personal favorite I'm gonna go with is at Delmonico's America's first restaurant here in New York City whoo that's a big Benedict and I like that story so we're gonna stick to that okay some other one says that commander Benedict made these eggs or this dish who knows somehow said someone else made it don't even know who that person was so that's how little I care about the story these are gonna be perfectly cooked look at theirs so cute and then we're gonna put it into this bowl of ice water that kind of holds it you can make these ahead of time you have friends come over for brunch so it's gonna cool it down not overcook it they're gonna say they're next up I'm gonna melt a little bit of my butter right here maybe a couple tablespoons worth and I'm going to toast my buns traditionally well I think of eggs and egg I think of it on an English muffin we've actually a recipe for English muffins on our website anyways they're known for the old nooks and crannies you can use regular toast you could use no bread just put them on top of a crap cake that'd be delicious get it warm to the other side well toasty all right what these are getting nice and toasted golden all right we're gonna add our crab into here and up the butter I also need to melt my butter for my hollandaise okay so this is eight tablespoons one stick exactly we're gonna melt it over low heat sorry now he's just waking up to the smell butter all right grab is going into the butter I'm gonna add some old bay because why wouldn't I oh yes I can't say enough good things about crab just God's gift to man it's really this the crab right you don't even need the season of assault because obey has salt in it what's that feel it wasn't to you as well what ok got Dungeness crab from Pacific Northwest we've got a lot of king crab from Alaska yeah Maryland blue crab primarily snow crab from the snow and it's true I dare you to convict me every crime they're a little bit different this is all from blue crab we've made crab soup crab cakes crab dip crab pretzels seems crab Benedict so many things it's like bubble gum that's me bubbling up a crab come oh man okay this is looking really good and look I'm keeping the lumps whole intact this is also it's so good cuz the way I eat crab if I sit there and I pick it and I make piles like I'm not the kind of person who will take it eat as I go I make a pile of crab meat and then I soak it in butter and then I dip it in an apple cider vinegar and it's so good and so this is basically that and then driving an egg and maybe a breakfast awesome I'm gonna keep my crab meat warm my butter is melted don't want to burn it or anything like that an important here it's gonna be easier for me to add into my hollandaise sauce if I have it and something that was horrible okay no hollandaise literally it could not be easier one of the mother sauces out there as well as tomato sauce professional something else that's something else veloute no espanol and what else I want three egg yolks for this also okay so I'm gonna it is good day how they do something whatever three egg yolks three egg yolks see how they hold onto the bun during video and then we add some where things have no fear it will be delicious don't you marry my dear the three egg yes that's pretty cute I think we can use that rnc alright blender hollandaise people often get a little bit scared like I said about making hollandaise when I was on the old rookie fifth we used to make it in a thermomix and I keep it hot and like one of those foam guns anyway foam it onto the you know I'm talking out those siphons which is great don't get me wrong but no one has that at home and also this is so easy I'm gonna add a little bit of salt into here old bay of course because it wouldn't be crabs eggs benedict without old bay and everything throw it in and then some lemon juice about two tablespoons I'm gonna give this a little bit of a whiz just to kind of get it and multiply it a little bit to start what makes people scared of making hollandaise is this right here all of a sudden they're gonna sit there there if it's like making a mayonnaise your friend it's gonna break to muscle it because you're adding melted butter right on here and you're gonna add it slowly and that is going to allow it to emulsified the key is added slowly in the beginning and then you kind of add it faster than but this is basically I don't think you can break it you can break it but this is like doing it in a blender it just makes it so much easier so if you broke this and use it like it looks like there's about salsa the bottom just gonna ignore that this is ready I'm gonna warm my eggs through in this warm water hands look at his filled eggs nice I'm gonna take off that little tail a bit and dump it on in and they're not gonna overcook her anything they're cooked to perfection beautiful beautiful we're gonna cut this nobody crab on the bottom of us all right eggs are ready that right here don't forget to season your egg with a bit of salt and your avocado as well look we're juice because this tastes so good it's all nice and juicy and lemonade a little bit of black pepper and now our beautiful holidays uh all day you can see it right in there huh yes yes yes almost forgot Sicily a little bit of crispy garlic over the top just for a little bit of crunch and also garlic why not whoo this is gonna be good very easy poached eggs a simple simple hollandaise that was ready so quick oh look at it perfectly poached get a little bit crab liquid avocado English muffin that's worth that this is the breakfast of champions right here so you cook the day after after what you asked I don't know what are you doing make this the next day please the recipe click link below in New Zealand I cooked for Peter Jackson and all the hottest with me and Frodo and him hanging out magician guy was across the way and\n"