Before Scoundrel opens in downtown Greenville, South Carolina in 2022, chef Joe Cash holed up in his home kitchen, perfecting French-focused dishes like beef tartare and duck fat frites. I let it happen. But he also reminded me of his childhood trips to the beach and his family’s dinners on the docks. That meal often included devil crab, a rich Lowcountry snack of crabmeat grilled with cracker crumbs, butter and mayonnaise, chopped vegetables, and spices. The trick is to enhance it with subtle sophistication of the menu. His first attempt was a lighter interpretation of an unbreaded cold salad.
“My father was the first tester, and he lost his mind,” Cash recalls. “He said, ‘Damn, we should put this on the menu.’ Creating a new dish well from scratch doesn’t happen all that often, even as a chef. Now that devil… Clubs have become a staple at Scoundrel.”
It’s also the kind of centerpiece that commands attention when the luscious chunks of blue crab, stuffed into shells artfully placed on ice, are brought to the table. “We want the crab meat to be the main ingredient, so we keep the pieces big and hearty, but with a complex depth of flavor,” says Cash. “You can put a spoon in and take a little bit of each layer and put it on a cracker and eat it.”
At Scoundrel, we sprinkle the crab shells with dried parsley and bay leaves, but these are decorative powders that are not included in the recipe below. That said, while the overall preparation isn’t easy, the crab cream and piperado elements can be made ahead of time, making it easier to assemble for later serving. What are Cash’s top tips for home cooks? When sauteing onion and pepper piperado, add the ingredients in the order listed.
