Crab rangoon

Crab rangoon are deep-fried dumplings served in American Chinese and, more recently, Thai restaurants, stuffed with a combination of cream cheese, lightly flaked crab meat (more commonly, canned crab meat or imitation crab meat), with scallions and/or garlic. These fillings are then wrapped in Chinese wonton wrappers in a triangular or flower shape, then deep fried in vegetable oil.

Names

In the Pacific Northwest states of America crab rangoon are also known as crab puffs. They may also be referred to as crab pillows, crab cheese wontons,^[1] cheese wontons or "crab meat cheese".

History

Crab rangoon has been on the menu of the "Polynesian-style" restaurant Trader Vic's in San Francisco since at least 1956.^[2][3] Although the appetizer is allegedly derived from an authentic Burmese recipe,^[4] the dish was probably invented in the U.S.A.^[5] 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.^[6]

American Chinese cuisine

Crab rangoon is an appetizer in American Chinese cuisine of North America. Though the history of crab rangoon is unclear, cream cheese, like other cheese, is essentially nonexistent in Southeast Asian and Chinese cuisine, so it is unlikely that the dish is actually of east or southeast Asian origin. In North America, crab rangoon is served often with soy sauce, plum sauce, sweet and sour sauce, or mustard for dipping.

References

See also

• Jau gok
• Curry beef triangle