Crab Vermouth

Melt butter in a 4 to 5 quart pan. Remove from heat and blend in the cornstarch. Gradually stir in 1 cup of the dry vermouth and the chicken broth. Add parsley, garlic, soy sauce, lemon juice and sugar.

Return to stove and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 10 minutes. At this point, you can cover and chill broth up to 24 hours. (I should let you know here that the broth is SOOO delicious that we usually make a double batch.)

To the hot or reheated broth, add the crabs (about 2 lbs. each, cleaned and cracked). Cover and simmer until crab is heated through, about 10 to 15 minutes. Pour remaining 1/4 cup vermouth over crab. Ladle the broth and crab into large, individual bowls.

Serve with homemade French bread for dipping.

Important: Your dinner guests will love you more if you provide implements for cracking and picking the crab and lots of wet towels! This meal is not for those who don’t like to get dirty when eating.

Note: I actually prefer to make the broth the evening before I plan on serving. It gives the ingredients a chance to meld and creates a much richer flavor. You can also make this more of a seafood soup/stew by pre-picking the crab and just dumping it into the broth. This is probably the way you want to go if you don’t want the dinner table mess. Additionally, you may want to increase the number of crabs if you have real seafood lovers in house.