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GULF SEAFOOD COURTBOUILLON Serves 6

HOW TO PREP: Push crab fat through a fine mesh sieve to remove all shell particles. Chill crab fat in the fridge until ready to work with it. In a small skillet, melt one of the cubes of butter over medium heat. Add garlic and heat for 2 minutes, until aromatic. Add wine and cook over medium heat until it reduces to 2 tablespoons. mixture to a stand mixer bowl. Add crab fat, remaining butter cubes, lemon zest, Aleppo pepper, white pepper and salt. Fit the stand mixer with the paddle attachment and mix on medium speed for 30 seconds, until all ingredients are well incorporated, scraping down the sides once or twice. You just want to mix the butter, not whip it. (If you don’t have a stand mixer, you can mix it together by hand with a rubber spatula. Do not use a whisk.) It is done as soon as you don’t see any chunks of plain butter. Use immediately or save it by packing into a Tupperware container, rolling into logs in plastic wrap like cookie dough, or placing in a ramekin covered tightly with plastic wrap. In the fridge, it will last for a week but it freezes well when formed into logs and wrapped tightly with plastic. You can pull it out, slice off what you need, and put it back in the freezer for up to three months. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature. Transfer reduced wine WHAT YOU WILL NEED: 1/2 cup water 1 cup Crab Fat Butter (recipe above) 4 cups cooked white rice Kosher salt 2 bunches green onions, green tops only, finely sliced HOW TO PREP: Combine water and crab fat butter in a large cold skillet. Heat skillet over low heat, stirring occasionally, until butter has melted and dissolved into the water, but is not boiling. (It’s important to keep the heat low so the butter doesn’t break.) Gently fold in the rice over low heat, stirring occasionally until warmed, about 3 minutes. Mix in green onions. Adjust salt to taste and serve. CRAB FAT RICE Serves 6-8

the fish for an hour, until it breaks down, and add the rest of the seafood 15 minutes before it is done). Adjust salt to taste and serve over rice. Note: Chef allows 6 to 8 ounces of seafood per person, in any combination of fish, peeled shrimp, and crabmeat. He prefers flaky white fish like speckled trout or redfish, either whole filets or filets cut into 2-inch slices. (Or you can do like Maw Maw Toups and put a whole gutted and scaled fish in.) The crab will break apart to thicken and season the stew, so don’t splurge on jumbo lump; backfin or claw meat will work fine. Do pick through the crabmeat to remove any bits of shell. (Chef dips his fingers in a cup of water as he picks through the crab. The bits of shell sink to the bottom when you dip, so you don’t flick it back into the crab.) For shrimp, go with peeled and deveined extra jumbo 16/20s (that is, 16 to 20 per pound). Ratiowise, Chef tends to do equal parts by weight of fish and shrimp and go lighter on the crab because it’s expensive. BRICK ROUX Brick roux is blonde roux cooked with tomato paste. As soon as you have blonde roux, take the paste (or even tomato puree or tomatoes crushed by hand) and caramelize it with the roux. HOW TO PREP: In a Dutch oven or heavy skillet set over medium heat, make a blonde roux with the butter and flour. Once the roux is ready, add the tomato paste. Stir that in and let it caramelize until it starts sticking to the bottom. Cook it until it browns a little. I smash down the tomato paste evenly across the bottom of the pot to increase the surface area that is caramelized by the heat. This should take about 10 minutes total, and results in a brick red roux with a charred tomato flavor. Makes 3/4 cup. WHAT YOU WILL NEED: 4 tablespoons unsalted butter 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour 1/2 cup tomato paste

WHAT YOU WILL NEED: 6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, divided 1/2 medium yellow onion, finely diced 1 small red bell pepper, finely diced 1 large rib celery, finely diced 1 teaspoon kosher salt 2 bay leaves 7 cloves garlic, minced 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour 1/2 cup tomato paste 1/4 cup dry white wine 6 cups fish, crab or shrimp stock 1 teaspoon picked and minced fresh thyme 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper 1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper 3 to 4 pounds mixed seafood (see note following) Jasmine rice or any medium-grain white rice, for serving HOW TO PREP: In a Dutch oven over medium heat, melt 2 tablespoons of the butter until it quits bubbling. Add the trinity (onion, bell pepper and celery), salt and bay leaves, and cook until the onions are translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and sweat for 1 more minute. Remove the vegetables from the pan and reserve. Make sure you get all the vegetables out, but there’s no need to wipe or clean the pan. There’s still a lot of flavor in the fat that’s leftover. In the same Dutch oven over medium heat, make a brick roux (recipe below), using the remaining 4 tablespoons butter and the flour and adding the tomato paste once the roux hits blonde. When the tomato paste begins to brown, add the vegetables back to the pot and stir. Add the wine and scrape the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon until all the brown bits have come up. Add the stock, 1/2 cup at a time, stirring until fully incorporated after each addition. Add the thyme, paprika, cayenne and white pepper, and stir. Bring the mixture up to a simmer over medium heat and cook uncovered for 45 minutes. Add the seafood and cook for 15 minutes, until the fish breaks apart easily. (If you are using a whole fish instead of fish filets, cook

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