Who Ships Froxen Blue Crab Claws From Alabama
ROBERT ST. JOHN
A honey-do task took me to Lower Alabama last week. My wife wanted to shop at an antiques store near Theodore, Alabama, and I was lucky enough to go along for the ride.
One might detect a note of sarcasm in the previous sentence, and if one did, one would be correct. Don't get me wrong, I love spending time with my wife. She is the person with whom I most enjoy sharing life experiences. However, if I were to compile a list of things I look forward to doing with my wife, shopping for antiques wouldn't make the top 1,000. I would gladly accompany her on a pedicure (and might have in the past) before I would choose to go antique shopping.
I have nothing against antiques. Not at all. I have lived in and around them my entire life. It's the shopping part that I have a problem with. In my old age I have become an anti-consumer.
I spent my 30s and 40s as a test-marketer's dream consumer. When something new was released, I wanted it. I consumed and consumed. Ultimately, I ended up in my 50s with a bunch of consumable goods that I had no use for, or interest in. I have been in a minimizing mood lately and it feels good.
This trip to Theodore wasn't going to minimize anything. This seemed to be a trip that was "adding to." Nevertheless I went. And before anyone starts to give me a pat on the back for my phenomenal display of altruism, I had an ulterior motive — fried crab claws.
I will drive 100 miles and wander through a hot antiques store for an hour to eat fried crab claws and West Indies Salad.
I knew three things: 1. We were going to be in the Theodore area around noon. 2. Bayley's Seafood restaurant was just a few miles from our destination. 3. Bayley's still serves fried crab claws and West Indies Salad.
As a matter of fact, Bill Bayley invented both of those southern seafood staples.
I love fried crab claws. Everybody loves fried crab claws. We began serving fried crab claws in our restaurant in the late 1980s when they were still a byproduct. No one wanted the claw fingers and so they were the cheapest part of the crab to purchase by the pound. They're like chicken wings. No one could give away chicken wings until someone invented Buffalo wings in the 1980s and now they are raising chickens just for the wing and breast.
The price of crab claws has risen steadily for 25 years. Today a pound of fresh crab claw fingers costs more than a pound of filet mignon. Seriously. We can purchase certified Angus beef tenderloin for $13 per pound. This week, claw finger prices are $14.95 per pound, and that's because the price just dropped. To put that into perspective, my price for lump crabmeat — the prize portion of the blue crab — today is $13 per pound (almost $2 less than claw fingers). One can find frozen crab claws for a lesser price, but the quality of the product goes down along with the price.
We served fried crab claws for years until the price got so high we didn't feel comfortable asking customers to pay what they would need to pay. We could purchase frozen, but no one in our company felt proud of serving a lesser product, and the price was still high.
If you are eating fried crab claws in a restaurant that is serving half a pound for under $20, then you are either eating frozen crab claws or the restaurant is losing their shirt and won't be around much longer. Many restaurants claim to serve "fresh" because they are not frozen when they arrive at the back door of the restaurant. If the seafood supplier has taken them from his deep freezer and thawed them before shipping them to the restaurant, then they are still frozen.
Bill Bayley was the first one to bread a crab claw and drop it into hot oil and he also invented the West Indies Salad. After a stint in the Merchant Marine he opened up Bayley's Seafood Restaurant in 1947 on Dauphin Island Parkway in Theodore. His son, Bill Bayley Jr., operates the restaurant today.
West Indies Salad is a cold salad of crabmeat in a light vinaigrette (think cucumber-tomato salad, but substitute crabmeat for the vegetables). I have been eating it since I was a kid. It's the perfect summer seafood salad.
Bayley's Seafood Restaurant is still operating in the same building with a Bayley at the helm. Chain restaurants and fast-food joints have whittled into Bayley's volume, but ground zero for fried crab claws and West Indies salad is still at Bayley's Corner on the Dauphin Island Parkway. The next time you're in the area, stop in to one of the South's old-line seafood establishments. It's not everyday one gets to visit the birthplace of one — much less two — particular dish(es). Hopefully you won't have to visit an antique shop when you go. Though if you do, trust me, the trade off is worth it.
Contact Robert St. John at www.robertstjohn.com.
West Indies Salad
1 pound crabmeat, jumbo lump (Bayley uses claw meat)
1/2 cup yellow onion, chopped fine
1/4 cup canola oil
1/4 cup white vinegar
1 tablespoon parsley
1 tablespoon hot sauce (optional)
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce (optional)
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
Gently combine all ingredients and refrigerate overnight. Serve on sliced tomatoes, a bed of lettuce or as an appetizer with crackers. Yield: 4 to 6 servings
Source: https://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/story/life/2015/07/08/stjohn-crab-claws-salad/29890547/
0 Response to "Who Ships Froxen Blue Crab Claws From Alabama"
Post a Comment