West Indies Salad is a well loved Gulf Coast favorite, where crab is marinated in oil and vinegar, with minced onion, and covered with crushed ice.
Avocado and West Indies Salad
Whether served on a bed of mixed baby greens, in a tomato, spooned onto a cracker or like here, in an avocado, this is a pretty simple vinegar and oil dressed salad, likened to the popular sweet & sour cucumber salads so loved in the south, but made with crab instead.Another popular southern creation that was born right down here in Mobile, Alabama back in 1947, created by restaurateur Bill Bayley, owner of Bayley’s Restaurant.
One of the popular legends about how this dish came to be, involved Mr. Bayley's stint as a former merchant marine, where he served as a ship's steward. After purchasing a bag of lobsters at a West Indies port, he cooked them and then tossed them in a concoction consisting of oil, vinegar, salt and pepper.
Years later, after opening his own restaurant in Mobile, he sought to recreate that recipe, but having better access to crabs than to lobster, he used crab instead and the West Indies Salad was allegedly born.
This is the basic salad, which I confess, while downright tasty all on its own, I really make primarily so I can make these Crab Martinis.
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