Culinary Demonstration – Fulton’s Crab House at Downtown Disney – Epcot International Food & Wine Festival 2012

Mark Boor, Fulton’s Crab House, Downtown Disney

October 16, 2012

Wine: O’Neill Vintners and Distillers (California), GroundSwell Organic White Table Wine

Mandy Silver

Mandy Silver is the representative of O’Neill Vintners, her territory is the southeastern states and she lives in Myrtle Beach, SC. O’Neill is now the 7th largest winery in the U.S., located near Fresno, California. They mostly do bulk wine production for other wineries and some production for Christian Brothers brandy. They’re now making organic and sustainable wine under their own name, today we’re tasting the GroundSwell Organic White Table wine. It is made with French Columbard grapes grown in Lodi, California. Mandy says that this wine pairs well with seafood and has less acidity than sauvignon blanc. She spoke at length about acidity and minerality in wines and how that pairs with foods.

GroundSwell Organic White Table Wine

Without food, the nose is a little stinky and the taste is slightly fruity at then beginning, then sour in the near middle, then watery in the far middle, and then sour again on the finish. Nora didn’t like it very much without food and can’t imagine that she’d purchase this.

Menu

Crab Cakes, Maque Choux, and Remoulade Sauce

Crab Cake with the wonderful Remoulade Sauce and maque choux

Chef Mark Boor has been at Fulton’s Crab House for about a year, he’s originally from Indianapolis but he’s moved to Florida five times. [Note: we haven’t been to Fulton’s Crab House since attending their signature dinner in 2010].

Recipes

Close-up of the crab cake

Crab Cakes

• 5 pounds of jumbo lump crab meat
• 7 eggs
• 2 tbs Old Bay Seasoning
• 2 tbs baking powder
• 4 tbs parsley, chopped
• 2 tbs Worcestershire sauce
• 2.5 tbs English dry mustard
• 1/2 c mayonnaise
• 1.5 sleeves of saltine crackers (he actually used bread crumbs in the demonstration)
• 2 tbs canola oil
• Maque Choux (recipe follows)
• Remoulade Sauce (recipe follows)

1. Drain off excess liquid of jumbo lump crab meat and set aside. [At the restaurant, they  use back fin crab meat instead of the jumbo lump crab meat; it’s sweeter and more cost effective.]
2. in a separate bowl, combine eggs, Old Bay Seasoning, baking powder, chopped parsley, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, and mayonnaise. Use a wire whip to blend ingredients. [Mustard powder provides flavor and acts as an emulsifier to bind the cakes.]
3. Crush saltine crackers in food processor until fine. Fold cracker crumbs into the wet mix. [This should have the consistency of pancake batter. You want to add the cracker crumbs in batches so that you don’t get this too thick or too thin.]
4. Mix in half of the crab meat, working until fully incorporated, then gently add the remaining crab. Be careful not to break up the crab lumps. Mix gently until crab is evenly distributed.
5. Portion into 4-ounce balls. Preheat over to 350 degrees F.
6. Heat non-stick skillet on medium high heat, and place 2 tbs of canola oil in hot skillet. [You need to use a skillet that you can put in the oven]
7. Add crab cakes and cook for 1.5 minutes, then place in oven to finish cooking. Cook for 10 minutes, turning over after 5 minutes. Remove from skillet.
8. Serve with Maque Choux and Remoulade Sauce.

Remoulade Sauce

Note: nora is thrilled to get the recipe for Fulton’s Remoulade sauce – she loves this stuff.

• 2 tbs whole grain mustard
• 2 c mayonnaise
• 1/4 tsp paprika
• pinch black pepper
• 1.25 tbs parsley, chopped
• 2 tbs sweet pickle relish
• 1 tbs capers, drained
• 1 clove garlic, chopped
• 1/2 lemon, juiced
• 2 tsp Paul Prudhomme Cajun seasoning blend

1. Place ingredients in blender; pulse until creamy and ingredients are incorporated.

Maque Choux

Note: this looks more like a corn relish, not like a traditional maque choux

• 1.5 sticks of butter
• 1 red onion, diced
• 1 lb red pepper, diced
• 1 lb green pepper, diced
• 5 lbs frozen sweet yellow corn kernels
• 2 tbs fresh thyme leaves
• 3/4 c chopped parsley
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• pinch of black pepper
• 1 quart+ 1 cup heavy cream
• 2 tbs Crystal Hot Sauce

1. Melt butter in sauce pot, add onions and cook for 2-3 minutes.
2. Add peppers and continue to cook until onions are translucent.
3. Add corn and cook for 15 minutes.
4. Add fresh thyme leaves, chopped parsley, salt, and black pepper and cook for 1 minute until fragrant.
5. Add heavy cream and hot sauce. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to a simmer and cook for 1.5 hours until slightly thickened. Adjust salt and pepper as needed.

Interior of crab cake

Ours were served with a fried green tomato under the crab cake … simple preparation … slice of green tomato, dry it off, dip in all purpose flour, dip in plain buttermilk, dip in a seasoned breading blend (panko bread crumbs, chives, parsley, 3 cheese blend – asiago, romano, parmesan; salt and pepper). Quite tasty.

Our Tasting Notes

The corn wasn’t too bell pepper-ish or too thyme-ish. It was quite tasty. The fried green tomato was very good. The crab cake was yummy, exactly what we expected from Fulton’s. The wine pairing was quite nice. All in all this was a very pleasant demonstration – if Mark does a Culinary Demonstration next year, he’ll be on our list to repeat.