Crab Louie
An entrée salad invented in San Francisco around 1905. It is topped by a generous serving of Dungeness crab meat, and features a distinctive horseradish-forward dressing. It was very popular for decades but is now rarely seen. Dungeness is not always available so other types of crab are often substituted. As are shrimp, or even lobster. Google “lump crab” to find frozen or canned alternatives.
There are many riffs on the Louie, including abominations using Thousand Island dressing or artificial crab. But this one holds true to tradition, is fun to make, looks spectacular, and is a thrill to eat. Note – there are lemons in all 3 ingredient groups, add them up before shopping
There are many riffs on the Louie, including abominations using Thousand Island dressing or artificial crab. But this one holds true to tradition, is fun to make, looks spectacular, and is a thrill to eat. Note – there are lemons in all 3 ingredient groups, add them up before shopping
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Crab Louie
An entrée salad invented in San Francisco around 1905. It is topped by a generous serving of Dungeness crab meat, and features a distinctive horseradish-forward dressing. It was very popular for decades but is now rarely seen. Dungeness is not always available so other types of crab are often substituted. As are shrimp, or even lobster. Google “lump crab” to find frozen or canned alternatives.
There are many riffs on the Louie, including abominations using Thousand Island dressing or artificial crab. But this one holds true to tradition, is fun to make, looks spectacular, and is a thrill to eat. Note – there are lemons in all 3 ingredient groups, add them up before shopping |
| Servings |
| 4servings |
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Ingredients
Dressing – Soft stuff
- 1/2cup mayo — quality. Not m-whip. Not low-fat. +++points for home-made.
- 1/4cup chili sauce — Heinz unless you have a better idea
- 1tsp dijon mustard
- 1/4cup red wine vinegar
- 1tsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1/2lemon juice & zest — a normal lemon yields ≈ 3 Tbsp of juice.
- to taste horseradish — The “prepared” type in glass jars from the cold aisle. Use enough to make it clearly present, but less than sinus-clearing.
- 1pinch Cayenne Pepper — or dash of Tabasco. A hint, not a heater.
- 1/2cup heavy cream
- 1dash brandy — optional
Dressing – Hard stuff
- 2tsp parsely — finely chopped
- 1clove garlic — finely chopped
- 1/4cup green pepper — finely chopped. Bell is traditional but not to my taste — I prefer an alternative like poblano. But nothing with much heat.
- 2Tbsp minced green olives
- 1/4cup minced scallion— or grated onion
Salad
- 1lb Dungeness crab meat — or other crab (even canned or frozen lump), shrimp or lobster.
- 1lemon Juice and zest
- 1 or 2 Heads Romaine lettuce for presentation — or your favorite lettuce. Arugula might be interesting. Typical quality requires outer leaves to be discarded, buy enough.
- to taste Alternative additional lettuce for shredding — e.g. arugula or green-leaf (not iceberg!)
- 4 Hard boiled eggs — Not real hard. Yolk a bit loose but not super runny. See photo.
- 2Tbsp fresh chopped chives
- 2 medium tomatoes, wedged — 3 or 4 wedges per serving.
- 1 English cuke, peeled and sliced
- 1bunch asparagus — Traditional Louie always has this.
- 1/2lemon cut into wedges
- 2Tbsp Extra virgin olive oil
Instructions
Dressing
- Combine the soft stuff except the cream and brandy. Whisk until smooth & glossy
- Add the optional brandy to the cream then whip until foamy but stop the moment the texture gives a hint of stiffening.
- Mix the cream into the soft stuff mixture, then mix in the hard stuff.
- Salt & pepper to taste then refrigerate. You can even make this a day or two ahead of time, best not to go longer.
Salad
- Trim away the “rough” end of the asparagus and chop the rest into ≈ 4″ pieces. Toss in bowl with salt, pepper, and olive oil. Roast @ 415° for 15 minutes then refrigerate. Some recipes call for steaming rather than roasting. Blah.
- Hardboil eggs, peel & refrigerate.
- Double check crabmeat for shell & cartilage, especially body meat. Toss with lemon juice & zest then refrigerate.
- If using romaine, arrange 4 rinsed/dried romaine leaves on each plate. For other lettuce try for some sort of whole-leaf base.
- Rinse & dry remaining lettuce, chop roughly. Toss with enough dressing to lightly coat (not much), and pile atop plated leaves.
- Top with crab meat, then chives. If your crab meat includes any whole-leg section pieces putting them on top looks nice.
- Divide the remaining dressing into ramekins, one per serving.
- Slice egg in half.
- Complete plating by arranging ramekin, eggs, tomato wedges, lemon wedge, asparagus, & cuke slices around the mound of chopped lettuce.
- An ice cold Riesling Spätlese pairs well with this.
Recipe Notes
View online at KillerNoms.com/louie
R&D: Experiment with using a whole-leaf base, but with chopped arugula for the mounded lettuce. A little fennel pollen in the crab-meat toss step might be interesting. Might be fun to invent a cajun riff using crawfish.
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