Hard Shell Crabs, Stuffed, Carolina Style

Fry colorless in butter some finely chopped onions; sprinkle over a little rice flour, fry again for a few minutes and moisten with milk; season with salt, red pepper, nutmeg, thyme, and powdered basil; add the crab meat, and half of its quantity of rice previously boiled in plenty of water, "Creole rice" (No. 1251); fill some clean crab shells with this preparation, until they are quite full and dome-shaped; dredge over with bread-crumbs, besprinkle with butter and brown in a hot oven, or the preparation may be dipped in beaten eggs, rolled in bread-crumbs and fried in hot fat.