My brother gives my husband a huge pile of king crab legs for his birthday every year. My brother lives in Alaska, and while he is not a seafood buff himself, he is very proud of the bounty that his state produces, and king crab is the best of the best (or at least the most expensive). They arrive in a huge box that is light to lift, but when you lift of the lid, the legs inside are scary to look at --and a bit dangerous to the touch--getting the delicious crab out of them is never without risk (this escapade had me avoiding any crab shell-related injury, but I managed to stab myself with the using to cut through the shell, illustrating the adage "if it is not one thing, it is another"). We have made them into straight ahead crab legs with butter, a crab gratin, and other assorted dishes but this time my husband wanted crab salad (wiching he had been able to go to Rhode Island with me to have lobster, perhaps).
The salad itself is very simple--both in flavor as well as to assemble. The key is to let the delicate flavor of the crab be the front and center flavor, so the less you add the better.
Cut the crab meat in chunks, as big as seems reasonable (always nice to keep the claws as intact as possible), then toss it with a small amount of minced red onion and diced celery, add a bit of Dijon mustard, and just enough mayonnaise to hold it together, maybe a dash of Tabasco to liven it up, definitely a squeeze of lemon to brighten the flavor. Serve on bread, or atop a green salad and it is absolutely wonderful.
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