ANTHONY: So, we're going to make our signature dish here at Marcus DC, it's going to be Mel's Crab Rice.

SETH: Ooh.

All right.

Um, that sounds mighty good, but who's Mel?

ANTHONY: Mel is this gentleman.

He has a crab truck back where I'm from in Southern Maryland, Calvert County.

He's been selling crabs for as I've been alive.

So, for me, this dish, it definitely embodies my childhood, but also my learning and just everything I've picked up along the way.

SETH: And I can tell with all these ingredients, we have a lot of different flavors from all over.

ANTHONY: For sure.

A lot of flavors, abundance of flavors.

SETH: So how do you get started here?

ANTHONY: Before you came in, I actually made the red sauce to flavor the rice.

I got the pan nice and hot and I add in the red onions to caramelize those and deepen the flavor.

Once the red onions are nicely caramelized, I add in my aromatics, along with my garlic and chilies.

We're going to have a good amount of cumin, coriander, fresh chilies, along with some peppers.

Once the peppers and chilies are caramelized, I add in the tomato.

The next stage, I add in smoked paprika and toast that off in the pan.

It'll help the paste deepen in color, and once we've achieved that, I add in the chicken stock and then I'm going to blend it smooth.

We're going to add in the paste to flavor the rice, let it simmer, and I'm going to finish it off in the oven.

And then I'm going to flip it out onto a tray and let it cool off.

Drying the rice out in the fridge helps it crisp up when I'm cooking it.

So yeah, after all that labor of love, here's the finished product.

We're going to take it to the next step.

SETH: All right.

We have a really hot pan right here.

ANTHONY: That's the most important part or else you're not going to get a good sear on your rice.

SETH: Woo-hoo!

ANTHONY: So, the goal here, the intention is to get a nice crust.

The key is to leave the rice alone.

So, I know it's tempting.

I know it's hard to do, but you just got to sit back and just watch a little bit.

SETH: Sometimes as a chef, you just have to have to let go.

ANTHONY: Hands off.

Hands off.

Yeah, yeah.

So, you can see the crust is starting to build, we're actually going to just take the back end of the spatula.

Yeah.

So that's exactly what you want right there.

That's caramelization is texture.

SETH: That's like your socarrat or your tahdig with the Persian rice.

You're going to find this all over the world, right?

ANTHONY: Yes.

with every single bite, you're getting that texture and flavor contrast.

Obviously, you see the perfect sear, like you're so excited, you're ready to go.

You want to touch it.

You want to start moving it around.

SETH: I want to eat it.

ANTHONY: Don't.

You're only going to sabotage yourself.

Just let it go.

Get that secondary crust again on the other side.

So, we're literally going to push the rice to one side because we're going to make space to cook the remaining of our veg.

So just a touch more oil.

And then for us, obviously we're going to do whatever veg is in season, so a little bit of asparagus.

It's going to have some onions, fresh tomatoes, mushrooms.

Can't go wrong with umami.

SETH: Never.

ANTHONY: And then the last thing is going to be the bell peppers.

SETH: Wow.

ANTHONY: For me, seasoning it made the most sense when it came with fish sauce.

SETH: Oh, and fish sauce, you're just getting that absolute bomb of umami, right?

ANTHONY: Nothing but umami.

Then to help balance we're actually going to do some fresh lemon juice as well.

A little acid to help cut through all the richness.

Next, the most important part, before it ever goes to the guests, we have to taste it.

SETH: Of course.

ANTHONY: And always handy have a spoon on me.

SETH: All right, you're going to let me do the honors here?

ANTHONY: Of course you have to try it.

SETH: Yeah.

I mean umami for days.

ANTHONY: But it's not there yet.

It's not, trust me.

So, we're actually going to put that to the side for now and then we're going to just heat up the crab.

So, Seth for here, we have some local, beautiful blue crab.

And for that, we're going to heat it up with a little bit of a buerre monte that we make.

Crab goes best with, for me, butter.

Just want to heat it through basically.

And then lastly, we have a mix of herbs.

So now that we have all our components ready to go, let's start building this dish.

SETH: Oh, let's do it.

ANTHONY: So, as you can see, there's bits of crust and socarrat scattered everywhere in the whole entire dish.

And then the star of the show, right?

SETH: Of course.

The reason I'm here.

ANTHONY: Yeah, the buttered crab.

You really can't go wrong.

SETH: It gets a special place at the top of the dish.

ANTHONY: Where it belongs.

So right here we have our pickled squash and pickled fennel.

That extra acid is actually needed.

The dish doesn't look like it and it won't seem like it, but it eats very rich.

SETH: No, it seems pretty rich to me.

ANTHONY: And then for me, probably the most controversial ingredient in this whole entire dish is the okra.

SETH: Let's start some controversy today.

ANTHONY: Yeah.

So, we salt and cure it and then we ferment it in our homemade hot sauce.

For me, I think it's the texture that makes the dish sing.

And then obviously we need more flavor and more texture because why not?

We're here.

SETH: Let's hit it.

ANTHONY: So, we're going to have some crispy shallots.

And then lastly, some charred lemons.

Yeah, Seth, so this is pretty much it.

We're missing one last component.

Believe it or not.

SETH: Are we going to flambé it or something?

ANTHONY: You know what?

Marcus would love that idea, but no, we're not doing that.

We're actually going to add more luxury to it.

We're going to put an uni béarnaise on top.

SETH: Uni béarnaise?

ANTHONY: Uni, yeah.

I was like, how can we make this dish a little bit different and better?

Why not just do uni béarnaise?

So, this is our signature dish, Mel's Crab Rice.

SETH: A showstopper if I've ever seen one.

All right, Chef.

I don't even know where to begin with this beautiful dish, but I'm just going to serve myself a little rice, a little crab- ANTHONY: Well, I would say, are you okay with okra?

SETH: Love okra.

ANTHONY: Then I think we can be a little adventurous.

SETH: Mix it all up.

Okay.

ANTHONY: Let's just mix it up a little bit.

SETH: We're going to hide the crab in there along with everything else.

ANTHONY: Yeah.

Don't worry.

I'm going to leave nice little pockets though still.

There you go.

You have a nice one right there.

SETH: Oh.

Should we do a squeeze of lemon?

ANTHONY: I think a little bit of acid wouldn't hurt.

SETH: One last little bit of flavor.

And the moment I've been waiting for.

ANTHONY: I know, right?

It's okay.

SETH: I'm going to go with exquisite.

ANTHONY: Thank you very much.

SETH: Those little pops you get.

Because you first start with that little bit of crunch.

I think there was a little bit of okra in that bite and the crab, just swimming in that rich, delicious sauce.

Time for bite number two.

All right.

And a little fennel in that second bite.

And you know what?

That by itself just changes the flavor profile entirely.

ANTHONY: Exactly.

The acid helps.

We want to make sure that we pickle as much as we possibly can so we can hold onto vegetables throughout the season.

SETH: And you know what?

I'm seeing a little more crab on the side of this plate here.

I got to go back in.

And, you know, this is kind of a dish... You're not coming here and ordering this for one.

I mean, I mean this is almost guaranteed to bring in a crowd, right?

ANTHONY: Yeah.

This is one of the go-to dishes.

And whoever's with you, significant other, best friend, whatever the case might be, you're celebrating, this lands on the table, conversation stops.

Phones are out, cameras out, they're taking a photo of it.

And then you know we're like, "Hey, hurry up, eat it for it gets cold."

SETH: And we need dishes like this.

We need people going out and breaking bread together, right?

ANTHONY: Yes.

Yes.

And that's the whole point of food.

We want to bring people together.

We want them to be excited, have stories and memories and create those with us.

So, this for me, it's a part of my memory.

My childhood I'm sharing with the guests.