This week I made a parfait out of canned grapefruit and canned crabmeat. And topped it with sauce.
This is Canned Grapefruit-Canned Crabmeat Cocktail!
AuthorRetroRuth
From Mary Margaret McBride Encyclopedia of Cooking, 1959
Tested Recipe!
[cooked-sharing]
Chill grapefruit and crabmeat in cans. Drain grapefruit. Flake crabmeat, removing bony tissue.
Alternated grapefruit and crabmeat in cocktail glasses.
Mix remaining ingredients. Pour over grapefruit and crabmeat.
Ingredients
Directions
Chill grapefruit and crabmeat in cans. Drain grapefruit. Flake crabmeat, removing bony tissue.
Alternated grapefruit and crabmeat in cocktail glasses.
Mix remaining ingredients. Pour over grapefruit and crabmeat.
Notes
I was intrigued by this recipe from the moment I read it. I wanted to see if crab and grapefruit really did taste good together.
But honestly, I mostly made this recipe because I wanted to use my awesome starburst glasses. Though it is obviously too big. I can’t see anyone eating this much crab-grapefruit cocktail. This is probably enough for a whole party full of people.
This sauce smelled horrible! It was so bad that I had it in my fridge, uncovered, for 15 minutes and the stench slapped me in the face when I opened the door.
“What the…is this grapefruit?”
“Yes. It’s supposed to be from a can, but all I could find were the fridge packs of grapefruit.”
“Great. That’s just great.”
“Sooooooooo, how is it?”
“I don’t know.”
“What do you mean you don’t know?”
“I think my taste buds just died.”
The Verdict: Horrible
From The Tasting Notes –
The sauce was awful. It smelled awful, it made the fridge smell awful, and the initial taste of the stuff was just the worst. The crab and grapefruit combo was actually not that bad together. The grapefruit helped to get rid of the “canned” taste of the crab meat. It was almost like using lemon juice. But then there was sauce. Horrible, mayo-ketchup sauce that didn’t match anything ever. This might actually be good if you ditch the stupid sauce and did a light dressing, like a vinaigrette. Double points if you use fresh grapefruit.
Your husband must have a cast iron stomach!!!
That sounds awful. What a brave man.
Considering how odd canned orange juice tastes, canned grapefruit sections (can’t recall having seen any, or indeed any such canned citrus apart from mandarin oranges) must be even worse. I’ve been underwhelmed by most canned crab. But that sauce would definitely make those even worse. I’m glad you didn’t get refrigerated crabmeat… total waste of a good ingredient.
You are doing the Lord’s work, Ruth.
I have the Mary Margaret McBride cookbook, too! In the ’50s, my mom collected each section as it was offered at the grocery store. It’s huge and I absolutely love and treasure it. Some of the recipes are very good.
If you haven’t already, check out the section on feeding infants, which includes making your own formula!
I think this is a mid-century attempt to use canned products to emulate a fresh food recipe. One of the best salads I have ever had was at a restaurant on the Seattle waterfront. The salad was composed of fresh Dungeness crab and fresh grapefruit sections on a bed of lettuce, with a traditional Louis dressing (similar to Thousand Island but lighter). Like so many of the “oh, look we can now buy anything frozen or canned!” recipes from the 50s and 60s, this one is a total FAIL.
‘Real’ crab from the seafood freezer at the grocery store is VERY expensive. ‘Canned’ crab is also expensive, teeny little ground up bits. Maybe back when this recipe was written, crab was better, or more affordable, because a lot of retro recipes call for a can of crab. So, maybe grapefruit and imitation crab would have been a better fit (if you like the imitation crab, some people think it’s the work of the devil). And a lighter, sweeter lemon vinaigrette.
Ha! Thanks, mary! Sometimes I think you are right! 🙂
Yeeeeeah. It wasn’t the best. 🙂
Yep. I was not tempted at all to sub refridgerated crab meat for the canned. I was really interested in seeing if canned crab meat could be improved. 🙂
Amen!
Hi Beth! I only have two of the sections of the cookbook, and I am always on the lookout for more. I totally agree that the recipes are for the most part good/excellent, so I was hoping this would be a revolutionary canned crab recipe 🙂 I guess I should just stick to the old favorites!
Yep, Anne. I think you hit the nail on the head. I think it was also supposed to be one of those quick recipes for when unexpected company drops by. And that salad you had sounds delicious! It’s nice to know that crab and grapefruit can be done right.
Hi Lassie! From what I have read, it seems to me like canned crab used to be a lot like bone-in skin-on cans of salmon. So I bet it was cheaper. And I like imitation crab, that is a good suggestion!
(off topic, we went to Niagara Falls and went to a restaurant – I must add there were hundreds of Japanese tourists there ) and went to a fancy buffet restaurant. It was very elegant, expensive. and very dark in there! … Well, we helped ourselves and found out (thanks to the Japanese tourists, I think) much of the buffet consisted of surimi – artificial crab/lobster, made into many forms.) I like it myself, some is better than other brands. There will soon be no fish in the ocean, so…make do.
You should post pictures of your taste tester with a thought bubble over his head and let us fill it in! A new contest? I am a old man and I have become hooked on this sight. I remember some of this stuff! That’s not always good. Remember that the mid century American was a do it your self-use what you have type.They all lived through the depression and the war and did not complain.
I will add this to my list of foods I imagine being served in hell.
Maybe in its current form. With ‘real’ fresh ingredients it is probably delish.
Yargh. Good thing taste buds grow back quickly!
Ach, he is SUCH a good sport. What trepidation Tom must feel approaching the table and expected to put one damn thing after another in his mouth. I can’t help but feel concern – what sort of Pavlovian response are you inflicting upon the poor dear boy?
Canned grapefruit, while nothing like fresh, is actually pretty darn tasty.
There’s a tasty spread that made the rounds at all the parties throughout much of the 70s:
1 8oz brick cream cheese, room temp
1 can crabmeat, with all the liquid
A few drops worcestershire
Mix thoroughly, chill
Garnish with a good sized blob of Heinz Chili Sauce
Serve with crackers
Ugg, yuck no (sorry first reaction)
Um, a post from five years ago has comments closed, but I wanted to let you know…so I’m commenting on a current post.
You had a winner with the Tuna Jell-O pie. I do a “Throwback Thursday” section on my website. This week’s winner of “Insane Vintage Recipes” was the Summer Salad.
It’s here if you want to check it out: http://www.thehousewifemodern.com/blog/insane-vi…
P.s. I only used the old Betty Crocker pictures, not your new ones. And ask my readers in BOLD RED letters to visit your site to see the current ones! Thanks for daring to make this.
…if you want to punish them for dropping by unexpectedly.
I think the “sauce” seemed to kill the recipe. I am so curious as to why mayonnaise dominated so many mid-century recipes. It appears everywhere.
Mayo provided flavor for dull canned food and served as a “lube”to get dry stuff down. The fake mayo products were even worse.
Just wondering. What is Tom’s favorite food you make? The thing HE asks for? Or is dinner Russian Roulette?
I agree that something was needed to help the taste of canned food. I also think mayonnaise was just more commonly used condiment then, much like salsa is today.
man, this sounds like it would actually be a delicious recipe for little appetizers if made sans gross 50s ingredients. i was imagining fresh crab, fresh grapefruit chunks, and a light dressing of the extra grapefruit juice, salt, pepper, maybe a tiny bit of honey or something else a little sweet, and something like cilantro… make it almost like a seviche. good lord, i’m hungry now.
The sauce looks pretty close to a recipe I saw for in-a-pinch thousand island dressing (mayo, ketchup, relish)- which actually taste like the cheaper bottles of the stuff. I wonder what in this sauce made it so foul?
Grapefruit and Honey!!!!!!! Just jumped up and sliced one of my tree ripe grapefruit and put honey on it. KILLER!!! Fresh crab plus stuff on crustini .
Is that Tom? I’m in love. My own husband is a Tom, and he’s terrific too. OMG – these grapefruit/cream concoctions are the best! NO I’m not going to try them!!
It’s really saying something if you can make something with crab this awful. Really.
I LOVE reading your blog! The convos you post between you and your husband after he’s tried the food is just adorable and hilarious, and the photos you capture of his expressions are fantastic! He’s just too awesome and an amazing sport to eat these foods, man of steel! lol! XD
I feel like this would be a better recipe with a different sauce and fresh ingredients. It sounds like crab and grapefruit is indeed a thing according to the comments, so itd be interesting if this were ever given a second chance.