My Most Popular Blue Crab Appetizer
Southern author Pat Branning
Beaufort Crab Au Gratin
Thank you to everyone who decided to come back. Since I love to tell stories, I am happy you returned. I love the rich history in my corner of the South, and sharing it is a passion.
Southerners love to tell stories, and many of them involve food. We are either talking about what we are eating, what we ate yesterday, or what we plan to eat. Those who understand this the most are either Italian or Southern. It’s ok if you are not either; just come on in, and let’s swap stories and recipes.
If you were to ask me about the most memorable dish from decades ago in my early days in Beaufort, SC, I would tell you it’s Crab Au Gratin. After all, at that time, nearby Port Royal was home to the Blue Channel Crab Company. The company was founded in 1939 by inventor Sterling Harris, and he worked with food scientist Dr. Carl Fellers to patent a process that eliminated the blue coloration of canned Atlantic blue crab meat without altering its flavor. The company kept principal offices in Beaufort and briefly operated on Lady’s Island before moving and expanding to Port Royal. For years, Blue Channel was the nation’s top producer of Atlantic blue crab and one of the largest crab-packing firms in the country. The crabs processed here were caught and picked primarily by African American men and women of the local Gullah community, who had a long history of crabbing and fishing along the Sea Islands. For anyone not familiar with the term “Gullah,” these folks were the descendants of slaves who arrived on our coast as early as the late 1600s and early 1700s.
The Port Royal crab picking factory employed hundreds of workers who removed much of the crabmeat from the shells. It took place in a metal building, recently torn down and was located on Battery Creek just north of the Fish Camp Restaurant. The population demographic in the 1980s was mainly shrimpers, crabbers, and retired gunnery sergeants. Some commuted to Savannah, but the majority found work on the loose-planked, rickety docks that were home to shrimp boats and smaller bateaux stacked high with crab pots.
Port Royal experienced more than a century of oyster-shucking, crab-picking, and shrimp-heading before those jobs went elsewhere. Today, there are only a handful of shrimp boats left in Beaufort County. Some of them have huge freezers on board that keep the catch until the market is favorable. However, there are still those hearty souls who go out just like their fathers and grandfathers before them, leaving the docks at Village Creek on nearby St. Helena Island and dropping their crab pots into the gray-green waters of the Morgan River.
Most of our blue crabs are now being sent up 1-95 to New York City. The oyster shuckers are also gone, with the exception of the nearby Bluffton Oyster Factory on the May River, where Gullah women still stand shucking and singing gospel hymns just like their ancestors did many decades ago. Most of these hard, water-related jobs now belong to people living in Japan and Korea.
As I write these words, Port Royal’s relationship with the Great Atlantic is being re-imagined, but that is a story for another time.
Conditions in the 80s were ideal for all of us who loved to eat Carolina blue crab as often as we could and in as many different ways as possible. I don’t believe I went to a party anywhere where the hostess did not serve it in one form or another. My favorite appetizer was the Crab Au Gratin, served hot in a sterling silver chafing dish with buttery crackers. I thought for sure it would be in Beaufort’s most famous cookbook, Sea Island Seasons, but I did not find it there. Fortunately, my mother kept her sacred recipe in a wooden box with all her other treasured secrets. She was an entertainer extraordinaire.
Beaufort Crab Au Gratin
1pound cooked lump or claw meat picked over for cartilage
3 tablespoons, plus one teaspoon butter
½ cup shallots, finely minced
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 cups half-and-half or cream
2 tablespoons dry sherry
Kosher salt to taste
A pinch of cayenne pepper
whole nutmeg, grated to taste
2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
¼ cup fine cracker crumbs
1 cup extra-sharp cheddar cheese, grated
Pick over the crabmeat for any bits of shell or cartilage and discard them.
Put 3 tablespoons of butter and the shallots in a heavy-bottomed pan over medium heat. Saute, stirring almost constantly, until the shallots are softened but not colored, about 3-4 minutes. Sprinkle in the flour and cook, stirring constantly, for 1 minute.
Slowly stir in the half and half or cream and bring it to a simmer, stirring constantly, then reduce the heat to medium-low and cook until thick, about 3 minutes. Add the sherry, return to a simmer, and turn off the heat.
Position a rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat to 400 degrees. Lightly butter a 1 ½ to 2-quart shallow casserole dish. Fold the crab gently and Parmigiano into the sauce, trying not to break up any lumps of crab. Season it to taste with salt, cayenne, and nutmeg, and put it into the casserole dish. Level the top with a spatula.
Melt the remaining teaspoon of butter in a small skillet over low heat. Stir in the cracker crumbs and toss until the butter is evenly absorbed. Turn off the heat. Sprinkle the grated cheddar evenly over the top of the casserole and top with crumbs. Bake until bubbly and the cheese is melted about 15 minutes. Serve hot.
Chef’s Note:
Here’s a trick on the simplest, quick way to remove bits of crab shell from crab meat. Lay the crab meat out on a cookie sheet and heat the oven to 250 degrees. The bits of shell and cartilage will turn white, and you can easily pick them out with either your fingers or a pair of tweezers.
My latest book was launched in October 2023. Find it on Amazon or at www.patbranning.com
