Crab

For most people, the word gumbo immediately conjures the Cajun and Creole cooking of Louisiana. But okra (ngombo in Bantu), for which the soup-stew is named, reached South Carolina with the slave trade some years before Europeans settled in Louisiana, and the Creole world, where African, European, and indigenous cultures meet, actually extends up the southern Atlantic coast. There are many different gumbo recipes, all taking advantage of local ingredients and served with rice. This one is a heady, fragrant slurry thick with seafood. If desired, add filé powder (ground dried sassafras leaves), a Choctaw thickening agent with an almost lemony flavor, just before eating.

Editor's note: The recipe and introductory text below are from Rick Tramonto's book Fantastico! Don't look any further for a succulent crab salad open-face sandwich. The little garlic toasts piled high with rich, moist crab can be polished off in one or two bites. I can't think of a better way to start a meal! Don't skimp on the crabmeat. You need only a pound, so buy the best you can find. Bon appétit!

When was the last time you had a traditional, everything-from-scratch bisque? The rarity of an execution this loving, along with those succulent lumps of meat, guarantees groans of pleasure at the Christmas table. The intensely crabby finishing touch, with its base akin to drawn butter, will delight veteran crustacean eaters.

Food lovers on America's coasts have long known that crab cakes make wonderful sandwiches. Here, tender lumps of sweet crab are seasoned (in the manner of traditional Louisiana deviled crabs) and lightly bound with egg and bread crumbs, then panfried until the cakes have a golden crust. A thin layer of tangy tartar sauce and crisp lettuce is all the accompaniment they need.

Just saying the words "Dungeness crab" creates a sense of place. Its juiciness and depth of flavor is the secret to this salad because it strikes a perfect balance with the sweet-tart dressing. Don't substitute Atlantic blue crab here; its delicacy won't work to the salad's advantage.

The crunch and hint of licorice from a fennel bulb and fennel seeds have the magical effect of making crab taste more intensely like itself in this simple, coyly romantic salad.

Editor's note: The recipe and introductory text below are from Marcus Samuelsson's book, Aquavit : And the New Scandinavian Cuisine Salads like this one are part of the Swedish smorgasbord enjoyed on special occasions such as New Year's. Called skagen in Swedish, this salad is named for a Danish fishing village across the river from Sweden. It's a very traditional dish that appears on every smorgasbord table in the country. Here is our version, which includes smoked salmon, shrimp, and crabmeat. It makes a great lunch served with crusty French bread or whole-grain crispbread.

Executive chef Michael Psilakis, at Dona in New York City, recommends piling leftovers of this dish over greens for an easy next-day salad.

Editor's note: The recipe and introductory text below are from Feast: Food to Celebrate Life, by Nigella Lawson. While I love a shrimp cocktail, this I think has a slight, elegant edge. The hot, green mustardy horseradish, the wasabi paste, is not so hard to find these days but you could always substitute a small dollop of Colman's English mustard in its place I suppose. Similarly, you could shred some little Boston lettuce should you have difficulty locating the Chinese leaves.

Editor's note: This recipe is from Ming Tsai's book, Ming's Master Recipes.

Dallas chef Kent Rathbun created this recipe for Epicurious's Wine.Dine.Donate program. It makes an elegant first course for Thanksgiving dinner.

This layered salad is definitely stacked: Michael Taus, executive chef and owner of Zealous restaurant in Chicago, has piled in all the vitamins C and B12 you need for the day, as well as 50 percent of your daily requirement for vitamin A.

Chef Kerry Simon (celebrity fans at his showy Las Vegas restaurant, Simon Kitchen and Bar, include Kate Hudson and Lucy Liu) is bringing his simple, organic American cuisine closer to the stars with the planned opening of Simon LA at the Sofitel Hotel this month. This succulent salad provides vitamins, including A, C and folate, among others, plus some zinc from the hearts of palm and juicy ruby red grapefruit.

Delicate crabmeat gives sweetness to a light citrus sauce served on top of pasta.

Fatty pork is the standout ingredient in these crisp spring rolls; it adds intense flavor and a tender texture to the crab and vegetable filling. Fresh ginger and a generous amount of cilantro add kick.

Recipe from the kitchen of Felicia Gray, age 12 Many crab dip recipes call for imitation crabmeat, but there's no place for "krab" here. Only real lump crabmeat makes it taste best. Serve it while it's hot with crackers, bite-size pieces of bread, or veggie sticks. It can also be presented in a bread bowl and served with a tray of fresh broccoli, carrots, zucchini, or crackers.

While I love a shrimp cocktail, this I think has a slight, elegant edge. The hot, green mustardy horseradish, the wasabi paste, is not so hard to find these days but you could always substitute a small dollop of Colman's English mustard in its place I suppose. Similarly, you could shred some little Boston lettuce should you have difficulty locating the Chinese leaves.

This crab dish is as much of a treat as digging in to a good book: It's adapted from a scene in the novel The Hours and featured in The Book Club Cookbook (Tarcher/Putnam), which pairs recipes with great reads. The casserole offers lean protein and doses of vitamin A and folate. Plus, Self substituted soymilk for cream and replaced butter with olive oil, giving this storybook recipe a healthy ending.

A simple dish from England's linguine genie, Nigella Lawson Like the rest of us, Nigella Lawson is ready for winter to be over. Her new book, Forever Summer (Hyperion), out next month, is full of recipes that scream summer. Crab, the star of this meal, costs less than lobster and has more zinc (which helps repair tissue in the body). Plus, the dish is quick, leaving more time to slather on the Self-tanner.

Welcome to Baltimore, where crab cakes rule. This seafood fave has nutritional potential: Crab provides calcium, B vitamins, and iron. But the traditional version, made with mayo and fried in lots of oil, is too fatty to qualify as healthy fare. We cut the fat by more than half and lost 130 calories per serving with simple changes: using egg whites instead of whole eggs; subbing light mayo for the full-fat version; and going easy on oil.

In Trinidad and Tobago, crabs are traditionally cooked whole and the meat picked out. This sophisticated dish combines American-style crab cakes with the island flavor of callaloo, a green stew that's the national dish of Trinidad. Here, the stew becomes a sauce, creating an elegant starter or light lunch.

Blue crabs take a little more work to eat than larger crabs like Dungeness, but their sweet flavor is worth the extra effort. Blue crabs are commercially harvested from New York to Florida — including, most famously, Chesapeake Bay — and the Gulf Coast states. The best are available from late summer to early fall. If you're landlocked or on the West Coast, you can order live blue crabs from The Crab Place (877-328-2722; crabplace.com).

Shirley Phillips was raised on Hooper Island, Maryland, in Chesapeake Bay, and grew up surrounded by the finest seafood imaginable. Given her upbringing, it's no surprising that she married a waterman, Brice Phillips. The couple made their way to Ocean City, Maryland, and opened a crab shack, selling "jimmies" — heavy, fat, perfectly seasoned crabs — to tourists and locals alike. Almost fifty years later, that roadside crab shack has evolved into one of the largest seafood operations in America, Phillips foods. Miss Shirley is still a part of the daily operation of her signature Ocean City restaurant, which serves thousands of crab cakes every season. According to Shirley, the secret to a good crab cake is good crab, lots of lumps, and simple seasoning.