SC - Crab Rangoon

[Nancy Santella]

LrdRas at aol.com wrote:
> 
> In a message dated 1/1/00 8:50:25 AM Eastern Standard Time, troy at asan.com
> writes:
> 
> << This seems pretty much a standard formula with very minor variations
>  among the different recipes. >>
> 
> A standard formula to those who are aware of its existence. Of the 5 local
> businesses that serve a more or sometimes less accurate version of Chinese
> cuisine NONE list this item on their menu.
> 
> I am thinking that what may be 'standard' to some is, in fact, a source of
> curiosity to others.

Up to a point, that may be. My use of the word "standard" was to denote
a basic uniformity between different recipes for Crab Rangoon. Among the
dishes so named, all but one consisted of a fried pasta envelope filled
with crab and cream cheese, with various seasonings, generally within a
fairly narrow range, usually an onion/garlic component, and a dash of
tangy sauce such as Worcestershire. I think I've seen one version
without it. The one exception to the fried wonton as a standard
archetype was a baked, low-fat version.

> For instance, locally many people call an egg noodle and
> chicken combination 'chicken pot pie.' Sixty-three miles north where I was
> raised this is known as 'chicken and noodles' with 'chicken pot pie' being an
> actual chicken stew enclosed in a pastry.

The fact is, though, that while in some cases there may be no standard
for certain dishes, chicken pot pie isn't one of them. I think in the
case of the local PA version, there's been some equivocation going on. A
pot pie is defined by its name, and what it is is _usually_ a dish
stewed in a pot or casserole, later topped with pastry or even biscuit
dough or dumpling dough and baked to finish cooking. It's cooked in a
pot. It's a pie. It's a pot pie. I think in the case of a noodle-based
pot pie, which clearly does not conform to the basic pot pie standard,
which, while it may not be the standard in central PA, is still a fairly
commonly applied standard, I think there may have been an evolutionary
progression from chicken and biscuits/dumplings to chicken and noodles
made from a leavened dough similar to biscuit dough, and from there to
chicken and ordinary egg noodles for convenience. Why the name was
retained is perhaps a mystery for others to solve. But then, we've also
had this discussion before about things like mango chutney being made
from green peppers rather than the tropical fruit of that name, since
some people do call green Bell peppers mangoes. 
> 
> Barring the fact that some folks simply don't have web access to instantly
> flit about the web and view a recipe, there seems to be an interesting issue
> of what the definition of a 'standard' recipe is. After reading your post, I
> searched through several of my cookbooks that I have always thought of as
> 'standard' and found nothing listed by the name 'Crab Rangoon.' I did,
> however, find an almost exact recipe under the name 'Crab Bundles' in a book
> about Hors d'oeuvres.

How old is the book? I suspect the dish under the name Crab Rangoon
isn't that old, but the combination of ingredients isn't all that
unique, as you point out. I haven't found a recipe for CR in any of my
books either, but then I have comparatively few recent American
cookbooks, except for things by Alice Waters, Betty Fussell, and William
Woys Weaver, none of which are Crab Rangoon types of books ;  ) .
 
> Given the above, it appears to me that although certain combinations of
> ingredients and cooking methods might be defined as 'standard recipes', I
> find little evidence that there is any standardization regarding the names
> for those combinations.

That may be, but it's not my point. All I said was that Crab Rangoon,
and the many different versions of it that I've seen, all under that
name, are pretty much the same dish, with minor variations. There may be
hundreds of other dishes that are also similar, and they may or may not
conform to some type of standard formula within their named categories,
but all the recipes for Crab Rangoon all seem sufficiently similar to
suggest that a standard formula applies, of crab and cream cheese with
seasonings inside a fried wrapper made of egg pasta.

Now, suppose I said there were lots of variatons on pizza, but that in
general the basic formula is pretty much a standard one, normally
consisting of a baked yeast or sour dough, some tomato product, and a
cheese, with or without additional garnishes, I'd say that's pretty much
the standard in most places where pizza is eaten. However, focaccio may
not comply well to that standard at all, even though in many respects it
can be similar, as could strombolis and other variants on the theme. A
separate standard may exist for them, but they don't conform to the
pizza standard. It doesn't mean, however, that the pizza standard
doesn't exist.

All I meant, though, was that the recipes for Crab Rangoon are pretty similar.

Adamantius
- -- 
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com
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