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quickly discover the warm-hued crab fat and roe you’ve worked so hard to find. Just like wine has its terroir and oysters have their signature regional bivalve flavor, the crab fat and roe from different crab varieties are surprisingly distinct. Blue crab fat skews delicate and sweet (a perfect jumping-off point for newbies), while green crab fat has a tangier, umami underbite, and Dungeness crab fat is rich and custardy. One thing all crab roe and fat have in common, though, is their health properties. Much like other types of seafood, these crab entrails are chock full of omega-3 fatty acids, which help with everything from lung functioning to cardiovascular health, as well as protein and Vitamin A. “To me, the best thing to do with crab fat or roe is to make crab fat butter. It really freezes well,” says Toups. “You can then pull it out when you want and use it for crab fat rice, which I always love, especially with couvil- lion. It’s also great to use for roasting oysters.” Couvillion — the rich, brothy tomato- based Cajun seafood stew, typically made with redfish and head-on shrimp — plated up with a heaping portion of crab fat-flavored rice is a snapshot of Gulf Coast decadence that’s unrivaled. (Bonus points if you incor- porate some of the crab fat butter into the couvillion itself!) But seafood-atop-seafood layered dishes aren’t the only way to utilize the magic of crab roe. In Vietnam, a crusty loaf of bread is often soaked in spiced crab fat then cubed and baked for a brackish bread pudding experience. Crab roe is traditionally a key ingredient in she-crab soup, and is also a popular addition to the Hong Kong breakfast porridge, congee. The roe from green crabs is called masinette in Venice and can be eaten straight from the shell, formed into a pate, or even sauteed with fresh local herbs. Many Chinese diners revere dense and creamy crab fat as “ocean gold” both for its difficulty to harvest and, of course, price. In Suzhou, an eastern Chinese city, “crab roe cream” is an ancient combination of crab roe and cream braised in Shaoxing rice wine and seasoning that’s then mixed with lard and pepper. Initially created to preserve the crab roe before the days of refrigeration, the dish has grown increasingly popular in recent years. Crab roe tofu — soft bean curd cooked in a broth of (you guessed it!)

Recipes from Chasing the Gator: Issac Toups and the New Cajun Cooking ,

available wherever cookbooks are sold.

PHOTO BY DENNY CULBERT

reached caviar levels of popularity here in the United States yet , but I’ll keep serving them up like the precious rarities they are, gaining a legion of converts one tiny spoonful at a time.

crab roe — is a summertime delicacy in the Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces and has become such a cultural touchstone that it’s a dish players can purchase (or cook!) in the role-playing adventure video game, “Genshin Impact.” And if real-deal crab fat and roe are elusive in China, snackers can always pick up crab roe-flavored sunflower seeds — a poppable staple — at conve- nience stores across the country. Perhaps most famously, the late Anthony Bourdain devoured his fair share of crab fat at the legendarily cramped, 18-seat Swan Oyster Depot in San Francisco, where he ordered an off-menu item known as the “crab back” — crab roe, liver and other innards served in the back shell of the crab — with plenty of fresh sourdough for dunking into the salty, custardy brine. “Unicorn juice,” Bourdain called it, “the brains, the fat, the magic.” Toups likes to get an early start on incor- porating his crab roe-spiked compound butter into meals, adding it to

CRAB FAT BUTTER Makes 2 pounds

WHAT YOU WILL NEED: 1 pound crab fat (from about 20 to 30 female crabs) 1 pound unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch cubes, softened 2 tablespoons minced garlic 1 cup white wine Grated zest of 2 lemons 2 teaspoons ground Aleppo pepper (or paprika or crushed red pepper flakes) 2 teaspoons ground white pepper 1 teaspoon kosher salt

scrambled eggs in the morning or spreading it on biscuits. (Pro tip: Freeze your crab roe butter in an ice cube

tray for easy-to-thaw, perfectly sized biscuit- smearing portions.) So sure, crab fat and roe might not have

18 ROUSES J ANUARY | F EBRUARY 2022