alteRecipes crab + corn pudding recipe

photo by m-c

crab + corn pudding
(omnivore)

recipe by m-c

what I was looking for

Something summery but mild, something from the Cuban and Puerto Rican end of the Caribbean spectrum rather than the Jamaican and Trinidadian.

what I made

A crab and corn pudding based on Alex Garcia's In a Cuban Kitchen (Running Press, 2004, page 87) combined with Douglas Rodriguez's Crab and Corn Cakes from Latin Flavors on the Grill (10 Speed, 2004, page 26). I got the pudding idea from Garcia and the corn kernels and sauce from Rodriguez.

chit-chat

Sometimes it's fun to think about recipes in another light than the strictly culinary. I had already picked out the Alex Garcia recipe for crab and corn pudding and the Douglas Rodriguez recipe for crab and corn fritters when I noticed that Garcia had worked with Rodriguez both in Florida and in New York. Two old friends, together again.

grades for my version

healthy	B-	Heavy on the cheese.
fast	C	Not particularly fast.
easy	A	No problems.
cheap	D	Crab? Not cheap.
delicious	B+	Needed a mayonnaise rather than a sauce to be an A.

yield

Three servings.

equipment

   a nonstick pot with a lid
   a silicone pancake turner
   a cloth dishtowel
   a toaster oven
   a small baking dish

the sofrito

ingredients	Garcia pudding scaled	Rodriguez fritters scaled	m-c	why?
olive oil	1 Tablespoon	1 Tablespoon + 2 teaspoons	1 Tablespoon	no change
white onion	½, chopped fine	3 Tablespoons, chopped fine	½, chopped rough	easier, tastier [1]
bell pepper	½ medium green pepper, chopped fine	2 Tablespoons red bell pepper, chopped fine	½ medium green pepper, chopped rough	easier, tastier [1]
tomato	½ medium, chopped fine	---	½ medium, chopped rough	easier, tastier [1]
chipotle chile	½, chopped	2 teaspoons, chopped	--- [2]	tastier [2]
garlic	---	½ teaspoon minced	3 cloves chopped	easier, healthier [3]
scallions	---	¼ cup chopped fine	---	tastier [4]
dry white wine	¼ cup	---	¼ cup	no change

Notes
[1]	I almost always prefer rough textures, and here I wanted the sofrito vegetables to match the size of the kernels of corn.
[2]	Startling to come upon a chipotle in a Cuban recipe. I wanted a mild pudding.
[3]	Garlic flavor increases with the fineness of the cut, so 3 cloves chopped rough gives you about the same garlic flavor as ½ teaspoon minced.
[4]	Like the chipotles, scallions pulled the pudding in a different direction from the one I was heading for -- piquant rather than mild and sleepy.

Put the olive oil and the sofrito vegetables into your nonstick pot and stir them around to make all the vegetables glisten.

Bring the pot up to frying temperature. Let the vegetables sit undisturbed till the downward sides are brown. Stir them up and brown them again. A third stir, a third browning, and they are done.

Add the white wine to the pan and cook it down until there's only a hint of moistness left.

Take the pot off the flame and let it cool down till you can rest your hand on the bottom.

the cornmeal

ingredients	Garcia pudding scaled	Rodriguez fritters scaled	m-c	why?
cornmeal	1 ½ cups	--- [1]	1 cup	weight [2]
liquids	1 ½ cups chicken broth + 1 ½ cups clam broth	---	1 ½ cups chicken broth + 1 ½ cups fish broth	cheaper [3]

Notes
[1]	Rodriguez uses cornmeal only for dredging, not for the substance of the fritters themselves. For that he uses breadcrumbs.
[2]	Planning to cut down on the cheese a little, I made the cornmeal looser than Garcia's.
[3]	I made a fish broth from a handful of tuna trim I picked up at my local Asian market, simmered in water. See here for what I did with the tuna after I plucked it from the water.

Add the cornmeal and liquid to the cooled-off pot, stir to mix them with the sofrito vegetables, put the pot back over a low flame, and bring the mixture up to a simmer.

Simmer the cornmeal for 20 minutes, stirring it now and then to be sure it's cooking uniformly.

Turn the heat off, put first a towel on top of the pot and then the lid, and let the cornmeal come back to room temperature. (The towel absorbs extra moisture so it doesn't drip down onto the surface of the cornmeal, making nasty craters and pools.)

the main deal

ingredients	Garcia pudding scaled	Rodriguez fritters scaled	m-c	why?
crabmeat	½ pound	½ pound	6 ounces	cheaper
fresh corn kernels	---	¼ cup	1 cup	tastier
cream cheese	4 ounces	---	2 ounces	weight
cilantro	small bunch, stems removed, leaves chopped	---	small bunch, stems and leaves chopped	cheaper [1]

Notes
[1]	Why do people throw cilantro stems away? They have great flavor, and chopped small their texture is great too. Using both leaves and stems won't make this particular dish cheaper, but the habit of using everything you buy makes for cheaper cooking in the long run.

Preheat your oven to 375°.

Stir the crab, corn, cheese, and cilantro into the cornmeal. Don't try to make the mixture uniform; you want every bite slightly different from every other bite. As an eater, I find this lack of uniformity especially important in dishes that flirt at the edge of blandness, like oatmeal or macaroni and cheese or split pea soup. I want a hint of mystery to keep me going.

Grease your small baking pan.

Pile the crab and corn mixture into the pan loosely, tamping it down only the tiny bit necessary to fill the corners and any bare spots. Think light, cloud-filled thoughts, not dense, gummy thoughts.

Pop the pan in the oven and cook it till it's heated through and a few of the peaks on the surface have lightly browned, about 20 minutes in my oven, more or less in yours depending on the oven itself and the size and shape of the pan.

what I'd do differently next time

You may recall from above that I said a got a sauce idea from Rodriguez, and so I did, but I'm not going to tell you how to make it because it didn't work at all. With his crunchy crab and corn cakes I'm sure it would be divine. But with the soft, floaty pudding I made it was irrelevant and an annoyance.

Next time I make the pudding, I'll make a mayonnaise flavored the way Rodriguez flavored his sauce, with a seafood reduction (I'll use more of the fish broth from above, he uses lobster stock), pureed roasted red pepper, and sherry vinegar. The sturdiness of the mayonnaise will be a good partner for the pudding.