Although the classic Crab Louis salad calls for the Dungeness Crab found in the Pacific waters from San Francisco northward to Alaska, it can also be made with just about any other crab meat (snow crab, king crab, blue crab, etc.) because it usually seems to be a celebration of fresh crab no matter where its origin. The recipe is quite simple: a bed of Bibb and/or Iceberg head lettuce, topped with cooked crab meat, surrounded by slices of tomato and wedges of a hard-cooked egg and covered with a sauce that is similar to a Russian or Thousand Island dressing.
It seems fairly obvious that just about anyone could have cooked up this one, but there remains a mystery that makes one wonder, "Just who did cook it up?" The mystery of course is in its name, for although it is most often spelled Crab Louis, it is always pronounced "Crab Lou-ee" and one cannot help but wonder, "Who was Louis or Lou-ee?"
My own imagination has often pictured a fishing boat captain or wharf restaurant chef called Louie in San Francisco at the turn of the 20th century, but others have opined it was named for the French King Louis XIV, a truly great and gifted gourmand. In any case, it began appearing on menus in the Pacific Northwest from 1904 to 1914. Its origin has been variously attributed to the Olympic Hotel in Seattle, to the Bohemian Restaurant in Portland. Oregon, and to either Solari's Restaurant or the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco, but so far none of them has come up with a Louis (pronounced Louie) to whom credit may be given.
The second issue concerning the recipe is whether the salad is to be covered with Thousand Island Dressing or Russian Dressing or its very own Louis Sauce, as it is often called. Although many cooks use these dressings interchangeably, the Louis Dressing is less sweet than the other two, the Thousand Island Dressing usually contains green olives and the Russian dressing calls for pimento. Further, as with many fish salads, the Louis recipe includes a lemon, either as a wedge on the plate or as juice in the dressing.
Although there are many variations of the recipe online, the following is as near to a classic as I could find and is sometimes used with a combination of crab and shrimp or shrimp alone.
CRAB LOUIS
1 lb. Dungeness, King or Snowcrab meat
small head of Bibb or Iceberg lettuce
2 ripe tomatoes, cut into wedges
2 hard-cooked eggs, cut into wedges
Louis Dressing (or Louis Sauce)
1 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup commercial chili sauce
(not ketchup, not salsa)
2 Tablespoons chopped green onions
(including some tops)
2 Tablespoons green pepper
(finely chopped)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
(freshly squeezed)
dash of Tabasco sauce
Tear apart head of lettuce and wash and dry the leaves thoroughly. Make a bed of lettuce leaves on each of 4 plates. Top with a mound of crab meat and place wedges of tomato and hard-cooked egg around each plate.
Whisk together dressing ingredients, reserving some green onion slices for garnish. Place a spoonful of dressing on top of each mound of crab and top that with a few slices of green onion. Pass remaining dressing at the table.
Serves 4.
Who
Cooked That Up? is copyrighted 2006 by J.J. Schnebel
all rights reserved
for your pleasure and enlightenment
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