Aunt Corrine’s Crab Gumbo & The Toothbrush Rule
Everybody in Manchac knew 3 things: Aunt Corrine made the best gumbo, she cussed at the Saints, and she cleaned her crabs with a toothbrush. Here’s the recipe and the reason.
My Aunt Corrine didn’t play about seafood. If you brought her crabs from the river with mud still in the joints, she’d send you back to the bayou. If you tried to throw a whole crab in her gumbo pot without scrubbing it first, she’d smack you with a wooden spoon and say, “You trying to feed my family the ditch?”
So every crab got a bath. With hot water and a toothbrush. Here’s why, and here’s her recipe.
Why Aunt Corrine Cleaned Crabs With a Toothbrush
Blue crabs live in mud. They walk through it, eat in it, and drag it into every crack of their shell. If you boil a dirty crab, all that mud goes into your gumbo stock.
Muddy crab = muddy gumbo. Clean crab = sweet gumbo.
Aunt Corrine kept a whole cup of old toothbrushes by the sink. Not for teeth. For crabs.
She’d: Rinse crabs in cold water to wake them up. Yes, alive. That’s how you know they’re fresh. Flip them over and scrub every leg joint, the apron, and under the shell flap with a stiff toothbrush. Pull the top shell off, take out the “dead man’s fingers” and the guts, rinse again. Only then did they go in the pot.
It takes 10 minutes longer. It makes your gumbo taste like the Gulf instead of the ditch. That’s the Toothbrush Rule.
Nana's Crab Cleaning Rules From Aunt Corrine
1. Buy live crabs. If they don’t move, don’t buy them. Dead crab spoils fast.
2. Ice them first. 20 minutes in a cooler of ice puts them to sleep. No pinched fingers.
3. Never boil a whole crab with guts. It makes the stock bitter. Clean them first.
4. Keep a “crab toothbrush.” Mark it with red tape. Pawpaw used it on his teeth once. Once.
Aunt Corrine’s Manchac Crab & Shrimp Gumbo
Yield: 10 bowls. Time: 2.5 hours.
Nana Level: You better know how to make a roux.
Ingredients:
For the roux: 1 cup flour, 1 cup vegetable oil
The Trinity: 2 large onions diced, 2 bell peppers diced, 4 celery stalks diced
Seasoning: 6 garlic cloves minced, 2 bay leaves, 2 tbsp Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning, 1 tsp thyme, salt + cayenne to taste
Stock: 3 quarts seafood stock or water + crab shells
Seafood: 6 cleaned blue crabs, broken in half, 2 lbs shrimp peeled and deveined, 1 lb crabmeat picked over
Thickeners: 2 cups sliced okra, ½ tsp Zatarain's Gumbo File per bowl
Serve with: Hot cooked rice, French bread
Instructions:
Clean the crabs. See Toothbrush Rule above. Save the top shells to make stock if you have time. Break bodies in half.
Make a dark roux. Flour + oil in a heavy pot. Stir non-stop on medium 25-30 minutes until it’s the color of Aunt Corrine’s kitchen table. Chocolate brown. Don’t burn it.
Add trinity. Onions, bell pepper, celery. It will sizzle and stop the roux from cooking. Stir 5 minutes until soft. Add garlic. Stir 1 minute.
Build the gumbo. Slowly pour in 3 quarts hot stock while stirring. Add bay leaves, Tony’s, thyme, cayenne. Bring to a boil, then simmer 45 minutes. Add okra + crabs. Simmer 20 minutes. The crab shells flavor the pot.
Finish. Add shrimp + crabmeat. Cook 5 minutes until shrimp are pink. Turn heat OFF. Wait 5 minutes.
Serve. Ladle over rice. Pass the file. Each person adds ¼ to ½ tsp to their own bowl. Never boil file. You’ll know it’s right when the broth is dark, the crab is sweet, and there’s no grit between your teeth. That’s Aunt Corrine’s standard.
Where to Get Crabs Near New Orleans
If you’re visiting, don’t buy crabs from a tourist trap. Go where locals go:
Castnet Seafood: 10854 Hayne Blvd, New Orleans, LA 70127. Live crabs, wholesale prices.
Westwego Shrimp Lot: 100 Westbank Expy, Westwego, LA 70094. On the water. Cash only.
Hong Kong Market: 925 Behrman Hwy, Gretna, LA 70056. Best live tank in the city.
Aunt Corrine passed years ago. But every time I scrub a crab, I hear her: “You want it to taste good? Then clean it like you’re feeding Jesus.”
So go buy a pack of toothbrushes. Keep one for the crabs. Your gumbo will thank you.
P.S. Need a roux lesson first? CLICK HERE TO LEARN
Because if you burn the roux, no toothbrush can save you.
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