Joe Martin was both a hero and a mentor to me. He was an old-fashioned New Orleans kitchen guy who never had national fame as a chef, but he could cook better than a lot of household names. Not only that, he was a great teacher, developing an army of everyday workers who were the backbone of good food served all over town. The funny thing is, for all the people he taught, he never wrote down his best dishes. He used to make this one hunched over like it was a big secret. I pieced the recipe together from some of the guys he taught. Joe, if you're looking down on this dish from someplace where the work isn't so hard, I hope you don't think we're leaving something out!

　　

Ingredients

Serves 4

　　1 pound crabmeat, picked clean of any shell fragments

　　2 tablespoons Creole mustard

　　2 tablespoons finely chopped green onions

　　

Topping

1 cup mayonnaise

　　2 tablespoons yellow mustard

　　1/2 teaspoon Tabasco sauce

　　1/2 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

　　

Step 1

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

　　

Step 2

Gently toss the crabmeat with the mustard and green onions in a bowl, being careful not to break up the crabmeat. Divide the mixture between 4 ramekins. Using an electric mixer, whip together the topping ingredients in a mixing bowl and spread the topping on the crabmeat mixture. Bake in the oven until thoroughly heated and the sauce is golden brown and bubbly, about 8 minutes. Serve hot.

　　New Orleans Seafood CookbookTen Speed Press