Date I made this recipe:
June 26, 2016 – spotlighting the game show, To Tell The Truth
Catch 'em and Cook
'em by Bunny Day
Gramercy Publishing Company
© 1961
Purchased at Arc's Value Village
Recipe: Crabs Creole – p. 46
In my May 8th blog, I cooked from actress and TV
personality Arlene Francis' book, No
Time For Cooking. Arlene was a
panelist on the (vintage) TV show, What's
My Line, and in that blog, I did a good deal of "reporting" about
that show and its sister shows, To Tell
the Truth and I've Got a Secret.
I also reported that cookbook author, Bunny Day, appeared on
To Tell the Truth, prompting me to
screech "Bunny Day? My Bunny
Day?" That very name – Bunny – is
what prompted me to purchase two of her cookbooks in the first place and there
she was, on TV and everything! When I
was growing up, I knew or knew of three people with the name or nickname,
Bunny, and it just makes me giggle – still - because it's so cute (and so were
they).
So I made a mental note to cook from her book sometime this
summer and was actually gearing up to do so when I watched yet another episode
of To Tell The Truth, and on that
episode, three people claimed to be cookbook author, Eva Jean Schulz, who wrote
the book, Shrimply Delicious! So first I had Bunny talking about fishing
(which I gather was an expertise of hers) and her cookbook (Catch 'em and Cook 'em) and now Eva was
talking about her shrimp expertise and her cookbook and well, something was
"fishy" here, right? (Pun
intended.)
Alas, I already cooked from Shrimply Delicious! (Collectible
Cooking – December 15, 2007 – Shrimp
and Mango Chutney Canapés that were delicious) as well as from Bunny Day's
other cookbook, Crazy-Quilt Cookery (Collectible Cooking - September 24, 2014 - Beef Casserole/Meatloaf),
and so that left me with one more from these game show participants: Bunny Day's Catch 'em and Cook 'em.
But first, one more tidbit that just amused me to no end
about Schulz's book, Shrimply Delicious!
On the To Tell The Truth celebrity panel
that night was the always elegant and witty, Kitty Carlisle who, before
beginning her questioning of the panelists, said (dramatically, of course)
"Well there's absolutely nothing
I love more than shrimp!" I do so
love her. Plus, she was wearing this
totally kick-ass leopard skin stole (with pearls) and yes, I know, PETA will
likely be all over me for that but let's remember folks, that back in the 60's,
this was the biggest deal on the planet.
At any rate, Kitty was all excited by the Shrimp Lady and
she was all excited about Bunny Day and shrimp and seafood and you should be
too!
I must confess that when I first starting looked through
this book for a recipe to make, I thought I might be overwhelmed with recipes
for fish and I am not a fish fan. But
hooray, readers, the "Catch"
in the title is misleading because the book is not about catching something
with a fishing pole but rather "caught" as in with traps (crabs,
lobster) or digging (oysters, scallops and mussels.)Except for the
bouillabaisse recipe in the last chapter, there's not a mention of fish to be
seen and to me, this was a good thing.
(And need I tell you that there is no way I am ever again gutting a
fish?)
Had I grown up on the east coast like my father and his
family, I might just have gone to a seafood store, gotten live crabs (or
lobster or whatever) and just cooked them myself. Alas reader, I did not grow up on the east
coast (although I do visit a lot) and Lake Superior, my backyard, does not
yield these incredible edibles so I chose the slacker route and went to Coastal Seafoods and bought a can of
crab, already prepared. As I often say,
"Why do for yourself when you can pay others to do for you?"
Aside from the crab meat which pound for pound equaled a
couple pounds of beef or a couple chicken breasts (depending where you shop), the
rest of the ingredients were pretty inexpensive to buy and the entire thing was
really easy to make. My only complaint,
and it is very minor, is that the dish was a little too sweet (i.e. sugary) for
me. The guy at Coastal Seafoods talked me into purchasing a can of sweeter crab
meat and that, along with the teaspoon of sugar, and lack of other balancing
savory spices, made for a more sweet than savory concoction. Did we eat it anyway? Well, of course we did. But the next time around, I might add a bit
of Old Bay
The recipe also calls for 4 tablespoons bacon fat and I tell
you what, I was positively giddy to discover that Trader Joe's carried a one pound package of raw bacon ends and
pieces (of mostly fat) which was PERFECT for this dish. I used to buy and freeze bacon slices but
that didn't work well because we never used them up in a timely manner, but
this? This I will use, especially if the
recipe calls for only the fat and not the bacon itself.
So there you go.
"Bunny" and I had a lovely time in my kitchen making this dish
and I think you will too.
Meanwhile, I am keeping an eagle eye on the guests on To Tell the Truth because you never know
who will pop up. In fact, I was watching one episode (circa 1963) recently
where three people claimed to be Australian-born folk singer, Shirley Abicair,
who rocketed to stardom after appearing on the BBC. And one of the
panelists claiming to be her was actress Cecily Tyson. (You should know that Shirley is Caucasian as
was the other pretender but Cecily is not.
But this type of mixed panel happens quite often on "TTTT" to
throw off the panel. I've seen them mix
men and women, for example, when the "real" person's name is
something like Carol (f)/Carroll (m), or Jean (f)/Gene (m)("'Jean'"/Gene,
the dancing machine..." from The
Gong Show.)
At any rate, so I'm watching the show, right, and I kept
thinking "I know that woman" (Cicely
Tyson) but could not come up with her name.
I remembered "Miss Jane Pittman," a character she played in a
1974 TV movie, and I correctly placed her as character Annalise Keaton's mother
in the contemporary TV show, How to Get
Away with Murder, but beyond that, I was stumped. And then just as she was asked to give us her
real name and what she really did, the light bulb came on and two seconds later
she said " My name is Cicely Tyson and I am a student at "the New
School" and I was born right here in New York City." (By the by, the New School is a famous New York university, of
which, the drama program tutored up and coming (and now famous actors, like
Ms. Tyson) in the craft.
So get out there and Catch
'em and Cook 'em folks (ha—as if), and do some cooking and if you have
time, perhaps a little walking down memory lane by viewing some vintage and
current TV shows or movies.
Crabs Creole – serves
4
2 cups crab meat
1 large onion, chopped
1 crushed clove garlic
½ cup chopped green pepper
4 tablespoons bacon fat
1 16-ounce can tomatoes
½ cup chopped celery
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
Dash Tabasco
sauce
½ teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
Sauté the onion, garlic, and green pepper in bacon fat until
tender. (Ann's Note: I threw in the celery too because I wanted mine soft.)
Add everything else and simmer for 20 minutes.
Serve on rice.
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