Cooking the Chronicle – Nov 8

“I always enjoy the challenge of making something blatantly not kosher into something that is.”

I agree, Jessica Grann, I agree! It’s really fun to take non-kosher recipes and make them kosher. And during the three years my husband and I lived in Israel, it never got old to see “cheeseburgers” on menus and enjoy ordering one, feeling like we were being subversive.

But here’s something worth knowing. I did not grow up keeping kosher at home. And another thing worth knowing. I grew up in Maryland. My extended family lives in Baltimore. I know what crab tastes like. We grew up eating great crab dip and decadent crab cakes at special gatherings. It’s been years and years since I had the real thing, but I was steeling myself to be disappointed. Because real crab did was just. that. good.

My parents were in town visiting this week, so we decided to make this together for a pre-dinner appetizer. My mom kept commenting that she was almost certain her recipe for crab dip was nearly identical to this mock version. Of course, the toddler had fun dumping the spices and playing with the mixer settings.

Ultimately, we were not disappointed! We all really enjoyed this dip with a sliced baguette. Mock crab has a different texture than real crab, but beyond that it was a great creamy dip. I would 100% keep it in rotation, especially for things like New Year’s Eve parties, where all you want is decadent appetizers and drinks.

If I were to make this again, I personally felt like the recipe needed at least twice the amount of Old Bay in it. But like I said, I am from Maryland and this is not a controversial seasoning for me, it’s a necessary one on everything from French fries to salmon burgers. Perhaps a little less cayenne pepper as well—it  did have a kick, which my husband enjoyed but our three-year old did not.

This was a fun one to make. Leftovers the next day were great with crackers – food does get better when you let the flavors all get to know each other!