Crab Salad

Ranhofer assumes you have already read his bisque entry and know how to boil and pick crabs; what is left here is really a dressing and a chilling instruction. Two things carry the dish: cold meat and a light hand with the vinaigrette.

• The cross-referenceNo. 198 is Ranhofer's bisque of crabs, where the crabs are cooked before picking; consult that entry for his cooking liquid rather than assuming plain water. Boil until done, then plunge into ice water so the meat does not carry on cooking in the shell.
• ShortcutRefrigerated pasteurized lump or jumbo lump crabmeat gives a perfectly good version. Pick it over for cartilage and shell fragments, and drain it well; wet meat dilutes the dressing into a puddle.
• CoralThe "coral" is the roe of a female crab or lobster, orange-red once cooked. It is not sold separately and is present only in a female carrying roe. Sieved hard-boiled egg yolk gives a similar crumbly garnish if you want the look; otherwise leave it out.
• The dressingRanhofer gives no proportions. A vinaigrette of about three parts oil to one of vinegar, with salt and pepper, suits it. Dress the crab only at the last moment, since vinegar standing on picked crab dulls its sweetness.
• ChervilChervil is a mild anise-scented herb, still sold fresh in some markets and easy to grow. Flat-leaf parsley with a few tarragon leaves is the standard stand-in; do not use dried chervil, which tastes of nothing.
• "Put it on the ice"Period phrasing for chilling, most likely in the ice chest. Chill the picked crab covered in the refrigerator for at least an hour; the recipe says to serve it very cold.
• YieldAbout 1 lb of picked meat serves four as a first course; blue crabs give little meat each, so that is closer to a dozen crabs than three.