Crabmeat au Gratin # 2

Tips on making crabmeat au gratin
-Buy fresh or frozen crabmeat. Crabmeat should smell like the sea, not have an acrid aroma.
-Keep crabmeat chilled well until ready to use.
-When ready to use, dump the crabmeat out onto a plate and pick through it to remove bits of shell.
-Try to cook the sauce over a low to medium heat so that the cheese doesn't separate.
-Be sure to grease the ramekin, gratin pan or casserole dish to make cleanup easier.
-Bread crumb toppings are optional, but they do make the casseroles more attractive.
-If you must freeze leftovers, do so in small portions, realizing that the cheese sauce might separate when the dish is reheated in the microwave or oven.
Where to find the meat on a blue crab
-Backfin: Large white pieces of crabmeat from the backfin cavity. The pieces are smaller than jumbo lump.
-Claw: Dark, sweet claw meat rich in flavor. Excellent for soups, gumbos and stews. The least expensive type of crabmeat.
-Lump or jump lump: The largest pieces, or nuggets, of white body meat from the swimming leg body (backfin) chambers. Contains virtually no shell pieces. This is the most expensive form of crabmeat and is the choice of most gourmet cooks.
-Special: Smaller white pieces or chunks of crabmeat removed from the walking leg body chambers. Usually excludes backfin. Usually contains more shell pieces since it's harder to pick. The least expensive type of white meat. Also called regular, deluxe, flake or white.

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