I'm originally from Tampa, FL., now suffering without my cuisine in NYC of all places. When I was a child my other grandfather used to take me to a place called Seventh Avenue, which had once been the center of old Tampa. In the old days the area was heavily populated by Cuban and Puerto Ricans coming to the US. When I was a child it was run down, and only a few businesses were open, but he still bought his tobacco there to make his cigars at home.
There is still a restaurant there called La Tropicana which serves, among other things, black beans & rice and Deviled Crabs. Deviled Crabs are croquettes made of crab meat sauteed with finely chopped onion, peppers and tomato paste on the inside - a bread mixture on the outside and then fried to a crisp. I have not been able to find them outside of Tampa, whether frozen in supermarkets or in Cuban restaurants here in NY. They have never even heard of them in the restaurants here. Apparently this is an item that was developed in Tampa from the leftover crab that was fished or netted out of the bay. Everytime I visit Tampa, even for a weekend, I make sure I go to La Tropicana and have this delicacy. That is what it is to us. It brings back memories of my childhood, my family, and they are delicious. I actually can a half dozen frozen from La Tropicana, but it is a hassel to bring them home.
I do try to make them from time to time here in my apartment in NY. I do not attempt to make the outter bread mixture. For one, I have never found Cuban bread in NY. I can find every other bread from every other nation under the sun. The recipe uses Cuban and white American bread with water and paprika. I'll post the recipe here. Deviled Crabs What I did the other day was prepare them in wonton skins and most recently in cresent rolls. I bought frozen pastry to try next, but the cresent rolls are so incredibly easy to work with. The two cans of crab fits perfectly in one can of rolls, and all on one baking sheet.
Here are some shots of the wontons. About 5 of the 25 I made developed holes. I made about 6 or 8 into buns. I likes those more. I did not like how they fried up though. They never seemed to be cooked. I felt that they soaked up too much oil. I will be sticking to baking them.
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