In my experience it tends to be more dip than crab.

Copra on Charles St. serves a fantastic crab and spinach dip with tortilla chips that are dusted very lightly with old bay.

Why waste crab in a dip? Use flaked white fish and no one will know the difference anyway. Obviously I have never eaten crab dip that tasted anything like crab. At the end of this week I have to ask "Why do Marylanders take crab which has a very mild flavor and subject it to Old Bay, vegetable soup, and whatever goes into crab dip?" Just what do Marylanders have against the taste of crab? I will continue to eat mine boiled with lemon juice in the water and served with lemon wedges on the side or in a homemade crab cake that tastes like crab and not Old Bay.

Mark, have you ever had Crab Norfolk? I haven't made it in ages, but as I recall it was just a mound of picked crab with melted butter and shallots, and a sprinkling of cayenne pepper, piled into shells or ramekins and run under the broiler briefly. Just serve with lemon wedges and enjoy that crab flavor.

I didn't know what crab dip was. Were I to guess, I'd probably come up with something involving avocados, lime and maybe tahini.

It is more "dip" than crab but still a very yummy dip for a party, and nice because it seems a bit fancy, but can be still made cheap with regular crabmeat (as long as one goes to the trouble to get the shell out!). Bill Bateman's is not bad but none are as good as homemade and fresh from the oven IMHO!

I've had great crab all over the country. It is only in Maryland and New Orleans that everyone seems obsessed with coming up with ways to overwhelm the flavor. A great way to enjoy crab is with an aioli made primarily with canola oil or light olive oil so it doesn't dominate the carb. The crab Norfolk sounds good too. Everytime Emeril adds crab to a gumbo with a dark rue, sausage, chicken, and the trinity I think what a waste of crab. There is no way you are going to taste the crab. Like crab dip and Maryland crab soup gumbo is a good place to substitute a cheap white fish.

Wow. Given that crab dip is on the appetizer menu of nearly every bar and pub in town, I didn't expect so much negativity about it.

I like it. I can taste the crab. It's one of many ways to enjoy crab. And sometimes it's not exclusively about the crab, it's about a good dip to have with your beer at happy hour. To me, crab dip and a good beer is supreme comfort food after a bad day at work.

I was hoping to get some tips on places that have good crab dip. (Thanks Rocket Girl!).

A recipe for parties would be great too, since most people I know really like crab dip. Care to share, Joyce?

You can usually taste the crab in a decent crab dip. It's a distinctive sweet flavor. Substitute "cheap flaky white fish" - GACK - O- RAMA!

Mama's on the Half Shell has good crab dip, served in a bread bowl.

The only thing about crab dip that bothers me is that lately the trend is to serve with carrots and celery and a small amount of bread or pita. I don't think the carrots go very well, and the celery is okay, but not nearly as good as bread. They are nice as a contrast to the heavy dip, but not as dipping instruments. Maybe carb conciousness or the high price of bread is causing the celery and carrot trend?

I'm not a fan of cream-cheese-based crab dip -- it's serviceable in a pinch, but can be pretty gloppy. (Somewhere in the past, I've had a decent savory crab cheesecake -- but that's a different thing altogether.)

I've had success with a crab dip recipe with a flour-butter roux base, milk, heavy cream, and other ingredients (but not a speck of cream cheese, thank you very much).

All I can say Lisa is you have an extraordinary sense of taste.

hmpstd - are you willing to post the (sans cream cheese) recipe? sounds great.

EL -- I got the crab dip recipe from a printed source. If I give proper attribution, does that fit the fair use doctrine (making it OK to post), or is that a problem with the copyright gods? (I haven't found the recipe online, ao a link to somebody else's problem with the copyright gods isn't feasible.)

I think crediting them is fine. We do it in print. EL

Hot Crab Dip

Source: Susan Belsinger and Carolyn Dille, “The Chesapeake Cookbook: The Best Home Cooking of Maryland, Delaware & Tidewater Virginia” (Clarkson N. Potter, 1990; out of print, but it may be available at your local library – that’s where I found it). If I recall correctly, they, in turn, credited former Governor Harry Hughes for the recipe, which had been previously published in “Hunt to Harbor”, a cookbook issued by the Junior League of Baltimore. (The Junior League has since issued a new edition of its cookbook, but I don’t know if that recipe appears in the revised version.)

2 shallots, minced
4 Tbsp. butter, unsalted
1 lb. crabmeat
2 Tbsp. flour, all purpose
1 cup milk
Salt to taste
White pepper to taste
1 tsp. lemon juice or to taste
Dash of Worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 Tbsp. sherry
1/2 Tbsp. cognac

Soften shallots in 2 Tbsp. butter over low heat; set aside. Pick over crabmeat to remove cartilage; set aside. Melt 2 Tbsp. butter over low heat; add flour. Cook roux for 5 minutes, but do not brown. Add milk; stir well. Cook 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add shallots, crabmeat. Season with salt, pepper, lemon juice, Worcestershire; stir in cream. (Can make ahead to this point; chill.) Add sherry, cognac; heat until very hot but not simmering. Serve with crackers, crostades, or French bread.

Lisa (with a S) - would be glad to share but was out late gigging last night (w/ the band I am the booking agent for). So, look back tonight or tommorow am - after some good sleep!

hmpstd, your posting caused me to pull down my dusty copy of "Hunt to Harbor" and check out the recipe. Be forewarned, under "Hot Crab Dip" the recipe begins with half a pint of sour cream and a pound (!) of cream cheese. The recipe we want is at the back of the book and called "Government House Crab Dip" and it is in fact credited to Harry Hughes.

Dahlink -- thanks for checking your copy of "Hunt to Harbor". Is your the original pre-1990 edition? I think I've seen the revised version at local bookstores, but couldn't find the Harry Hughes crab dip recipe in it. (My recollection is that "The Chesapeake Cookbook" used the "Hot Crab Dip" moniker for the Hughes recipe.)

hmpstd, my copy of "Hunt to Harbor" is a first printing of the 1985 edition. One of my co-workers put in a lot of time testing the recipes, so I had a heads up on this.

H2H? I put in a load of time testing recipes for the original one as well. Kinda put me off cooking for years. You had to make every recipe twice and follow the directions EXACTLY!

My thanks to fairfax, and to Dahlink's co-worker, for testing this particular crab dip recipe.

fairfax, I noticed as I was flipping through H2H the claim that all recipes were tested twice--somehow I had imagined that two different people did the testing of each recipe! I wouldn't have been a good tester, as I don't like following recipes exactly, especially the second time around.

Crab Dip Recipe (with apologies to the cheese haters! LOL)
.5 pt sour cream
2 - 8 oz pkg cream cheese (room temp)
1.5 tsp dry mustard
.5 tsp Old Bay (J.O., Obreyki's, whatever floats your boat!)
1 lb crab meat picked carefully for shells
4 Tbsp Mayo
2-3 tsp worcestershire sauce
.5 C cheddar cheese
milk if needed to thin dip
Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees
Mix together everything but crab and cheese, folding in crab gently after mixing everything else. Place in casserole, top with cheese, sprinkle top with more seafood seasoning as desired. Bake about 20 minutes or until brown and done through.

Joyce W., hope no one reads your recipe hastily and puts in 5 pts. of sour cream and 5 c. of cheese! That would definitely overwhelm the flavor of the crab!

Dahlink - you are right - I worried about that but my computer doesn't do fractions in this application! More technology where I haven't kept up!

You can do one half in HTML with &lfrac12; (producing ½), but it's faster to just type 1/2.

That should have been: ½

Golly gee, I forgot all about the H2H cookbook...now I'll have to get more crabmeat.

After all the crab discussions last week, I bought a pound of crabmeat and made Mama Tucker's crab cakes. Remember Michael Tucker of L.A. Law fame? Well, he's a Bawlmer boy, and many years ago when FoodTV was young, David Rosengarten made his mom's crab cake recipe, which is still absolutely fabulous!

many mand thanks joyce and hmpstd for taking the time to post the recipies!

Little Havana has a good crab dip in a bread bowl- its on special on Thursday's