Chupe de jaibas — Chilean crab gratin with milk-soaked bread, cream and cheese
Chilean chupe de jaibas: crab meat with milk-soaked bread, onion sofrito, cream and cheese, baked golden in clay dishes. Step by step, ready in 1 hour.
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What chupe de jaibas is and where its name comes from
Chupe de jaibas is a Chilean seafood dish: crab meat bound with bread soaked in milk, an onion and garlic sofrito, cream and cheese, divided among clay dishes called pailas, covered with grated cheese and browned in the oven. It is served piping hot in the same dish, and together with the version made with locos (Chilean abalone) it is the most common kind of chupe in Chile. The word «chupe» comes from the Quechua chupi, meaning 'soup', and in Peru, Bolivia or Ecuador it names brothy potato stews with meat, fish or seafood. The Chilean chupe is thick and creamy instead: what holds it together is the soaked bread, not a broth.
Instructions
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Soak the bread in the milk
Trim the crusts off the sandwich bread, tear it into small pieces in a bowl and cover with the milk. Leave it to soak for 15 minutes, mashing it with a fork now and then, until no dry bits remain and it becomes a thick, even paste; for a smoother texture, give it a few seconds in the blender. The crust does not soften the way the crumb does and would leave firm pieces in the mixture. If you use marraqueta, take only the crumb and let it soak for 30 minutes, since it is denser. Meanwhile, finely dice the onion, chop the garlic very finely and grease the inside of the clay dishes with the butter.
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Pick over and drain the crab
Spread the crab meat on a plate and run it through your fingers to remove the bits of shell and cartilage that are almost always left behind. If it is frozen, thaw it overnight in the fridge, covered; if it is canned, drain it in a sieve. Either way, press it gently to squeeze out the excess liquid: that water would come out in the oven and leave the chupe watery. Pull it into coarse shreds, without mashing it, so you can taste it in every spoonful, and keep it in the fridge until you need it.
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Sauté the onion, garlic and ají de color
Turn the oven on to 200 °C so it is hot by the time you fill the dishes. Heat the oil in a wide frying pan or pot over medium heat and cook the onion with a pinch of salt for 6-7 minutes, stirring from time to time, until soft and translucent but not coloured: that way it adds sweetness without competing with the crab. Add the garlic, the ají de color and the merkén, if using, and cook for 1 minute, just until the garlic smells fragrant; ají de color scorches quickly and turns bitter. If you are using white wine, pour it in now and let it bubble for about 2 minutes, until almost no liquid is left.
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Thicken the base with the bread and cream
Lower the heat to medium-low and add the bread paste, with all of its soaking milk, and the cream. Cook for 4-5 minutes, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon and scraping the bottom so it does not catch, until the mixture thickens and drops from the spoon in soft mounds rather than a stream, like a loose purée. If it gets too stiff, add a splash of milk; if it is still runny, give it 1-2 minutes more. Season lightly with salt and pepper: the two cheeses still to come bring plenty of salt.
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Fold in the crab and the mantecoso cheese
Take the pan off the heat and add the crab and the queso mantecoso, folding gently just until they are evenly distributed. The crab is already cooked and only needs to heat through in the oven: if you stir it too much, it breaks into fine threads and gets lost in the bread. The mantecoso melts in the heat of the base and makes it creamier. Taste and adjust the salt.
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Fill the dishes and sprinkle with Parmesan
Divide the mixture among the 4 individual clay dishes, about 14-16 cm across, leaving 1 cm free below the rim so it does not overflow when it bubbles. Smooth the top with the back of a spoon and cover it evenly with the grated Parmesan, which is what forms the golden crust. Set the dishes on a baking tray: that makes them easier to get in and out of the oven when hot.
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Bake until golden and bubbling
Bake for 15-20 minutes, until the cheese is golden with a few darker spots and the mixture bubbles around the edges: that is the sign that the centre is piping hot too. If the top is still pale after 20 minutes, turn on the grill for 2-3 minutes and keep an eye on it, because Parmesan goes from golden to burnt very quickly. Take the dishes out with oven gloves and let them rest for 5 minutes on a wooden board or a dry cloth, not on a cold or wet surface, which can crack hot clay. Serve them in the same dish, with chopped spring onion and a lemon wedge, if you like.
Nutrition information
| Calories | 565 kcal |
|---|---|
| Protein | 39 g |
| Carbs | 27 g |
| Sugars | 9 g |
| Fat | 32 g |
| Trans fat | 1 g |
Values per serving (1 of 4).
Frequently asked questions
What crab meat works best: fresh, frozen or canned?
All three. Crab meat sold already picked usually comes cooked, and that is what this recipe calls for: fresh from the fishmonger has the most intense flavour; frozen works just as well if you thaw it overnight in the fridge; and canned is the most convenient, though you should taste it before salting the base, because some brands contain salt. Whichever you use, remove any bits of shell and squeeze out the liquid. The 500 g in the recipe gives about 125 g per dish, in line with Chilean recipes for chupe and pastel de jaiba. If you buy whole crabs, the meat is a small part of their weight: allow much more and, if they are raw, cook them before picking out the meat.
How do I buy and handle crab safely?
Buy it from established shops or premises authorised by the health authority, as Chile's Ministry of Health (Minsal) and the national fisheries service, Sernapesca, recommend, and keep it refrigerated below 5 °C and away from other food until you use it. If you buy raw crabs, Minsal advises boiling shellfish for at least 5 minutes before eating it and keeping raw food away from cooked food: raw or undercooked shellfish is the main source of Vibrio parahaemolyticus infection. Cooking does not protect against red tide: according to Minsal, its toxins do not go away when the shellfish is cooked and do not change how it looks, and only a laboratory test detects them, so what counts is where you buy.
What does «chupe» mean, and how is it different from Peruvian chupe de camarones?
«Chupe» comes from the Quechua chupi, meaning 'soup', and the Spanish Royal Academy's dictionary defines it as a stew of potatoes in broth with meat or fish, seafood, eggs and chilli, used in Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador and other countries of the Americas. Peruvian chupe de camarones, an emblem of Arequipa's cooking, fits that idea: it is a shrimp soup made with fish stock, yellow potatoes, onion and garlic, enriched with milk and cheese and often with rice and vegetables. The Chilean chupe is a different preparation: seafood mixed with milk-soaked bread, topped with grated cheese and baked, creamy and compact rather than brothy.
How is chupe de jaibas different from pastel de jaiba?
They share almost everything: crab, soaked bread, a sofrito and a topping of browned cheese, which is why they are sometimes mixed up. The difference is the liquid: pastel de jaiba takes much less milk and therefore less soaked bread, so it is more compact, while chupe is creamy and eaten with a spoon straight from the dish. If you prefer a firmer texture, use less milk: the base will end up closer to that of a pastel.
Which cheese does it take, and can I make it without cream?
For the topping, grated Parmesan is the most common choice: it browns in the oven and forms a salty crust. Some recipes also stir a melting cheese, such as queso mantecoso, into the mixture, and this is one of them. Cream is not essential either: there are versions with milk only, others with evaporated milk, which makes the base thicker, and others with cream cheese. If you leave it out, replace it with the same amount of milk and cook the base 1-2 minutes longer, until it thickens; it will be slightly less rich.
Can I make it ahead?
Yes. You can fill the dishes up to 1 day ahead: once the mixture is lukewarm, cover them and refrigerate, and sprinkle on the Parmesan just before baking. Take them out of the fridge 20 minutes beforehand, so the clay does not go straight from cold into a hot oven, and allow about 10 extra minutes of baking; go by the edges, which should be bubbling. Leftovers keep covered in the fridge and are best eaten the next day, reheated in the oven until bubbling again.
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