Crab Rangoon, sometimes called crab puffs,
crab rangoon puffs, or cheese wontons,
are filled crisp
dumpling
Dumpling is a broad class of dishes that consist of pieces of dough (made from a variety of starch sources), oftentimes wrapped around a filling. The dough can be based on bread, flour, buckwheat or potatoes, and may be filled with meat, ...
appetizer
An hors d'oeuvre ( ; french: hors-d'œuvre ), appetiser or starter is a small dish served before a meal in European cuisine. Some hors d'oeuvres are served cold, others hot. Hors d'oeuvres may be served at the dinner table as a part of the m ...
s
served primarily in
American Chinese restaurants.
Preparation
The filling is made with a combination of
cream cheese
Cream cheese is a soft, usually mild-tasting fresh cheese made from milk and cream.Oxford English Dictionary Stabilizers such as carob bean gum and carrageenan are often added in industrial production.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration de ...
,
crab meat or
imitation crab meat,
scallions or
onion
An onion (''Allium cepa'' L., from Latin ''cepa'' meaning "onion"), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus '' Allium''. The shallot is a botanical variety of the on ...
,
garlic
Garlic (''Allium sativum'') is a species of bulbous flowering plant in the genus '' Allium''. Its close relatives include the onion, shallot, leek, chive, Welsh onion and Chinese onion. It is native to South Asia, Central Asia and northeas ...
, and other flavorings.
A small amount of the filling is wrapped in each
wonton
A wonton () is a type of Chinese dumpling commonly found across regional styles of Chinese cuisine. It is also spelled wantan or wuntun in transliteration from Cantonese () and wenden from Shanghainese (). There are many different styles o ...
wrapper. The dumpling is then shaped by either folding the wrapper over into a triangle,
by creating a four-pointed star,
by gathering it up into a flower or purse shape,
or by twisting it into the traditional wonton shape.
The appetizers are cooked to crispness by
deep-frying
Deep frying (also referred to as deep fat frying) is a cooking method in which food is submerged in hot fat, traditionally lard but today most commonly oil, as opposed to the shallow oil used in conventional frying done in a frying pan. Normal ...
in
vegetable oil
Vegetable oils, or vegetable fats, are oils extracted from seeds or from other parts of fruits. Like animal fats, vegetable fats are ''mixtures'' of triglycerides. Soybean oil, grape seed oil, and cocoa butter are examples of seed oils, or f ...
or by baking.
They can be served hot or cold.
In North America, Crab Rangoon is often served with a sauce for dipping such as
soy sauce
Soy sauce (also called simply soy in American English and soya sauce in British English) is a liquid condiment of Chinese origin, traditionally made from a fermented paste of soybeans, roasted grain, brine, and ''Aspergillus oryzae'' or '' As ...
,
,
duck sauce,
sweet and sour sauce
Sweet and sour is a generic term that encompasses many styles of sauce, cuisine and cooking methods. It is commonly used in East Asia and Southeast Asia, and has been used in English cuisine, England since the Middle Ages.Clarissa Dickson WDickson ...
,
or a
hot mustard sauce.
History
Crab Rangoon was on the menu of the "
Polynesian-style" restaurant
Trader Vic's
Trader Vic's is a restaurant and tiki bar chain headquartered in Emeryville, California, United States. Victor Jules Bergeron, Jr. (December 10, 1902 in San Francisco – October 11, 1984 in Hillsborough, California) founded a chain of Polyn ...
in San Francisco since at least 1956. Although the appetizer has the name of a
Burmese city,
the dish was probably invented in the United States by Joe Young working under Victor Bergeron, founder of Trader Vic's.
A "Rangoon crab a la Jack" was mentioned as a dish at a Hawaiian-style party in 1952, but without further detail, and so may or may not be the same thing.
Writing for
Atlas Obscura
''Atlas Obscura'' is an American-based online magazine and travel company. It was founded in 2009 by author Joshua Foer and documentary filmmaker/author Dylan Thuras. It catalogs unusual and obscure travel destinations via user-generated conten ...
, Dan Nosowitz points out that although cream cheese was a staple of 1940s and 1950s American cuisine, neither Chinese nor Burmese use cream cheese in their cuisines.
Since most East Asians are
lactose intolerant
Lactose intolerance is a common condition caused by a decreased ability to digest lactose, a sugar found in dairy products. Those affected vary in the amount of lactose they can tolerate before symptoms develop. Symptoms may include abdominal pa ...
,
including cream cheese in their diet would not be common for those cultures.
Names
They may be referred to as crab puffs, crab pillows, crab cheese wontons, or cheese wontons.
Gallery
File:Fried wontons, crab rangoon, dipping sauces (4739410312).jpg, Triangular fried Crab Rangoons
File:Crab rangoon with some nice dipping sauces (4411368535).jpg, In the wonton shape, surrounded by dipping sauces
File:Crab Rangoon (4739415788).jpg, Inside, showing the crisp shell, white filling, and golden dipping sauce.
See also
*
Yau gok
Yau gok or jau gok are traditional dumplings found within Cantonese cuisine originating from Guangdong Province in China. They are most common during Chinese New Year and are consumed in Cantonese-speaking regions and communities, including Hon ...
*
Curry beef turnover
A curry beef turnover or curry puff is a type of Chinese pastry.
The pastry is shaped in a half-moon crescent. It has curry beef filling in the center and is also crunchy on the outside. The outer shell is crispy and flaky. It is one of the s ...
*
Crab puff
*
List of crab dishes
This is a list of crab dishes. Crabs live in all the world's oceans, in fresh water, and on land, are generally covered with a thick exoskeleton and are arthropoda and have a single pair of claws. Crab meat is the meat found within a crab. It is ...
*
List of deep fried foods
This is a list of deep fried foods and dishes. Deep frying is a cooking method in which food is submerged in hot fat, such as cooking oil. This is normally performed with a deep fryer or chip pan, and industrially, a pressure fryer or vacuum ...
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List of hors d'oeuvre
This is a list of notable hors d'oeuvre, also referred to as appetisers or starters, which may be served either hot or cold. They are food items served before the main courses of a meal, and are also sometimes served at the dinner table as a part ...
*
List of seafood dishes
This is a list of notable seafood dishes. Seafood dishes are food dishes which use seafood (fish, shellfish or seaweed) as primary ingredients, and are ready to be served or eaten with any needed preparation or cooking completed. Many fish or ...
*
References
{{Dumplings
American Chinese cuisine
Appetizers
Dumplings
Crab dishes
Surimi
Deep fried foods
Tiki culture