Here is an over-the-top sandwich using tuna and crab. I’ve prepared this dish at a couple of restaurants where it was huge with the beer drinkers. The bitterness of an IPA seemed to be the consensus among the drinkers to counter the sweetness in the crab and the fat from the crab salad.
Active preparation time: 10 minutes
Total time: 45 minutes
Serves: 2
Crab Salad
¼ cup celery, small diced
¼ cup onion, small diced
Juice of half a lemon
½ tsp ground mustard
½ tsp salt
½ cup (118 ml) mayonnaise
1 fl oz (30 ml) IPA
2 Tbs parsley, chopped
½ lb (227 g) crabmeat, pasteurized and picked through for shells
Combine the celery, onion, lemon juice, ground mustard, salt, mayonnaise, beer, and parsley and mix well. Gently fold in the crab, trying to keep it as intact as possible. Chill for 30 minutes before serving.
Burgers
Two 4 oz (113 g) pieces of ahi tuna
Salt
2 burger buns
1 Roma tomato, sliced
1 cup shredded lettuce
½ avocado, sliced
1 cup crab salad
Brush a cast-iron pan lightly with oil and heat on high. Season the ahi with salt and sear each side for 2–3 minutes, or until your desired doneness is achieved.
Toast the burger buns. Arrange the lettuce and tomatoes on the bottom buns, then slice the tuna and fan over the tomatoes. Fan a quarter of the sliced avocado over the tuna and top with the crab salad. Top with the top bun and serve.
Beer Suggestions: The crab salad calls for a small amount of IPA, which leaves enough for you to enjoy while you’re assembling the burgers. Dogfish Head Burton Baton (Milton, Delaware) is great, as are Russian River Brewing Company Pliny the Elder (Santa Rosa, California) and Green Flash West Coast IPA (San Diego, California).
PHOTO: CHRISTOPHER CINA