Oooo La La...Madamoiselle Betty scores again with her Crab Louis!

On a rather crisp Spring morning Connie headed to her friend Leanne's house.  The plan for the day was to check out the newly opened Gibbs Gardens in North Georgia.  These gardens cover 300 acres and were developed by an individual over the past 30 years.  It has just recently been opened to the public, and it is AMAZING!!!

Check out the photo that Connie took on her i-phone...it is THAT beautiful!

                                                                  Gibbs Gardens

After our excursion, Leanne agreed to be this week's judge. Not only is she a wonderful garderner herself, she also excels at Southern and traditional cooking and was already a big fan of Crab Louis/Louie so she was the perfect choice. 

                                                       This Week's Judge:  Leanne


Bruce and Connie had cooked all of the ingredients and pre-made their respective dressings so it was simple to assemble them at Leanne's house and let the judging begin!

                                                               Betty's Crab Louis

First she tasted Betty's Crab Louis.  She was immediately impressed with the appearance of this dish.

Then, she moved on to the Challenger's Crab Louie.

                                                         Challenger's Crab Louie

After eating a fair amount of both salads (she was very full after this "taste" test!) she said, "It was a tough decision.  I liked them both!  The one with tomatoes, eggs, and olives (Betty's version) seemed more like the classic Crab Louis that I like.  The olives gave it  more of a burst of flavor than the asparagus and avocado in the challenger's version.  Additionally, I liked the dressing better in Betty's version.  The challenger's Crab Louis had pickles or relish (sweet relish) that overpowered it a little....but as I said, they both were good.  However, I'm going with the traditional Crab Louis."

After hearing this feedback, Connie did a bit of experimenting with the gallon (seemed like it, anyway) of Crab Louie dressing that was left over.  The sweet relish was a bit strong...she would recommend cutting that in half and adding a bit of low fat sour cream to the remaining ingredients.  She tried this and the dressing was fabulous.  It was even good with tuna and salmon as a side dressing!

This one was close, but.....Congratulations (once again) Betty!

Current Scorecard:
Betty:            3
Challenger:   1

Crab Louie (or is it Louis?) Salad

Bruce drew the Betty Crocker stick this week and we decided to do yet another old classic -- crab louie.  The old Betty Crocker cookbook spelled it "Louis" while modernn day recipes seem to choose "Louie"...not sure why, so we went to Wikipedia to get the scoop.  Here's what we learned:

"Crab Louie salad, also known as Crab Louis Salad or the King of Salads, is a type of salad featuring crab meat. The original recipe dates back to the early 1900s and originates on the West Coast of America.

The exact origins of the dish are uncertain, but it is known that Crab Louie was being served in San Francisco, at Solari's, as early as 1904^[1]. A recipe for Crab Louie exists from this date in a publication entitled Bohemian San Francisco by Clarence E. Edwords,^[2] and in the 1910 edition of a cookbook by Victor Hertzler, head chef of the city's St. Francis Hotel.^[3]

Wikipedia's Photo of Crab Louie

By some accounts it was created by entrepreneur Louis Davenport, founder of the Davenport Hotel in Spokane, Washington. Davenport spent his early years in San Francisco before moving to Spokane Falls. He would use crab imported from Seattle to be offered in his hotel. His recipe pre-dates 1914 and can be found in hotel historical menus. The popularity of Crab Louie has diminished since its heyday in the early to mid 1900's, but it can still be found on the menu of some hotels and restaurants on the West Coast, including the Palace Hotel in San Francisco and the Davenport Hotel."

 

The main (but quite significant difference) in this week's recipes centers around the dressing. Betty's recipe includes sugar and worcestershire sauce, while the challenger recipe is way different!  It incorporates many of the classic louie ingredients such as eggs and olives in the dressing.

Betty Crocker's Crab Louis

Note from Betty:  A classic from our happy heritage of West Coast salads.  It's an ideal salad for a light luncheon -- you can count on everyone liking crabmeat.

2 cans (7.5 ounces each) crabmeat or 2 packages (6 ounces each) frozen cooked crabmeat, thawed
Louis Dressing (below)
4 tomatoes quartered
4 hard-cooked eggs, quartered
Ripe or green olives
4 cups bite-size pieces salad greens, chilled

Drain crabmeat and remove cartilage; chill.  Prepare Louis Dressing.  Arrange crabmeat, tomatoes, eggs, and olives on greens.  Pour Louis Dressing over salad.

4 servings.

Louis Dressing

1/4 cup chili sauce
1/2 cup mayonnaise or salad dressing
1 teaspoon instant minced onion
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
Salt to tast

Mix all ingredients.  Cover and chill 30 minutes.

1 1/4 cups.

The Challenger Crab Louie Salad Recipe

Connie checked out Rachel Ray's recommendation for the best Crab Louie.  She highlighted this recipe from the Swan Oyster Depot in Nob Hill, San Francisco on one of her shows, so this seems like a definite winner.

Just to be sure, Connie checked out comments from patrons of this restaurant after they had eaten the Crab Louie salad and this is an example of what they said, "Pure, unadulterated seafood is the be-all and end-all at this historic eatery.  Lump crabmeat drenched in creamy Louie dressing elevates the throwback salad's shredded iceberg lettuce.  Try the Crab Louie...VERY delicious".  Watch out, Betty!!!

Salad:
1 head iceberg lettuce, chopped
8 - 12 ounces fresh picked Dungeness crabmeat
1 avocado, peeled, pitted, and sliced lengthwise thinly
3 tomatoes, quartered
1/2 lb. asparagus speers, cooked

Dressing:
1 pint mayonnaise
1/2 pint tomato ketchup
1/2 cup sweet relish
1/2 cup chopped black olives
2 hard boiled eggs, chopped

Directions:
To make the dressing, mix together all ingredients.  Make a bed of iceberge lettuce on a large plate.  Top with crab, avocado, tomatoes, and asparagus.  Drizzle with Louie dressing.

4 servings.

So....who's gonna win the Crab Louis cookoff???

Bruce Kicks Some Betty Crocker Boo-Tay!

Well, we forgot how much fun it is to make cheese straws...and how good they taste!  This would be a great cooking project to do with children. Also, I suspect that we'll be including these in future get-togethers/picnics with friends and family.  Seriously, they are that good!

Bruce started first with his challenger recipe.  He used a serated pastry cutter to get the unique shape...they looked just like french fries!  As soon as Connie took a nibble, she knew that Betty was in trouble.  Bruce's cheese straws were addictive with their slightly spicy taste.

Bruce's Cheese Straws

Connie took extra care in following Betty's recipe.  There were several shapes that were recommended for the same recipe and she chose the twisted variety.  They looked quite pretty when they were done, however the flavor was much blander than Bruce's version (so children may prefer this recipe).



                                                              Betty's Cheese Straws

Connie's only hope was that perhaps this week's judge would prefer less impactful cheese straws and a more traditional appearance.

So..on to this week's judge!  Our friends, Halle and Rich, hosted a Saturday afternoon get-together for about 40 of Halle's friends.  The menu was wine and chocolate and we figured that cheese straws would be a nice complement.  Halle graciously agreed to be this week's "guinea pig".  She is an excellent cook in her own right (she's masterful with autumn soups), but she's also one of those Human Resources people who never wants to hurt anyone's feelings, so we figured this might be a challenge for her to have to choose a winner.

                                                                 Halle and Rich

Connie got to the party early and presented both sets of cheese straws.  Halle started with Bruce's challenger version first.  This is what she said:  "Oh!  Oh my!  Oh!  This is sooooooo good!"  This continued for several long minutes until we thought perhaps that we needed to give her some privacy~!  She went on to ask what the "secret ingredients" were (cayenne and dried mustard) and how Bruce made them look like french fries -- so very clever! She topped it off by asking for the recipe so that she could serve them to her Easter guests!

Connie pretty much knew that it was over for Betty at this point, but bravely put on her game face.  Halle gingerly nibbled on one small end of one of Betty's cheese straws and said:  "Are these the ones that you made?"  Connie replied that it didn't matter who the cook was...the competition was against Betty not Bruce or Connie.  She still looked doubtful and finally said that she didn't want to hurt Connie's feelings (no surprise there)!  

'Nuff said!  

As Connie soothed Betty's ruffled feathers, Halle continued wolfing down Bruce's cheese straws...yes, they are that good.

Congratulations,  Bruce!

Current Scorecard:

Betty:                    2

Challenger:          1

A true Betty Crocker classic:  Cheese Straws!

This week Connie drew the long "cheese" straw and will cook the Betty Crocker recipe.  This seems like a sure thing since cheese straws and Betty Crocker are almost synonymous.  Still, the recipe did seem a bit strange...we didn't even know that you could still get those tiny little jars of processed cheese.  However, we do have fond childhood memories of our mothers putting that stuff in celery sticks and proudly serving them as Thanksgiving appetizers...and New Year's Eve nibbles...and pre-Easter lunch starters...you get the idea.  The only kind that our local grocer had was with pimento so that's what Connie used.

                                            Yummy jarred "cheese"

Betty Crocker's Cheese Straw Recipe:

Betty says:  "Good warm or cold. An appetizer that you handle like refrigerator cookie dough -- and, like its sweet cousin, just slice and bake as needed."

1 jar (5 ounces) pasteurized process sharp American cheese spread (can be with pimentos, bacon, garlic   or with added hickory smoke flavor)
1/4 cup shortening
2/3 cup all-purpose flour

In small mixer bowl, mix all ingredients on medium speed 20 to 30 seconds.  On lightly floured surface, mold dough into 2 rolls, 1 inch in diameter and about 8 inches long.  (Dough will be soft but not sticky.)  Wrap; chill at least 2 hours.

Heat oven to 350 degrees.  form long strips on ungreased baking sheet; cut into 3 inch lengths.  Bake 10 minutes or until light brown.  Immediately remove strips to wire rack. 

About 4 dozen appetizers.


Bruce knew the game was on!  So, he spent quite a while choosing the challenger recipe.  He was intrigued by one that included cayenne pepper and dried mustard...he thought that the combination would put a little zip in the cheese!         

                        Cayenne Pepper:  A little spice for the challenger

The Challenger's Cheese Straw Recipe:

8 tbsp. butter, softened
1 c. grated Cheddar cheese
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper (or more if you like it hotter)
1/4 tsp. dry mustard
1 c. flour

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Combine the butter and cheese. Stir in the salt, cayenne pepper, and mustard. Gradually stir in the flour and knead into a smooth dough. Wrap in wax paper and refrigerate the dough for 1 hour
.
Roll out the dough between 2 pieces of wax paper to a thickness of 1/4 inch. Remove the dough to a floured board and cut into strips 2 inches long and 1/2 inch wide.  For visual effect you can use a pastry cutter to make the edges in a sawtooth design.

Place the strips on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake in the preheated oven for 10 minutes or until pale golden in color. Remove from the cookie sheet and cool.
The dough can be made ahead and kept in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. 
Serves 4.

Preparation time: 1 hour, 15 minutes; cooking time: 10 minutes.


So...who do you think will win this week's challenge???