Mr. Bayley's West Indies Salad

"This salad is the quintessential regional dish of the Lower Alabama Gulf Coast area. It was invented by the late Bill Bayley, who owned a steak and seafood restaurant of good repute. It must be prepared exactly as directed, with careful layering. Use the coldest ice water you can find in the recipe. The longer this one marinates, the better. The recipe sounds simple, but the results are indescribably delicious. This well-guarded recipe was finally published in 1964 in the Junior League of Mobile cookbook, Recipe Jubilee. Cooking time refers to time needed to marinate (2-12 hours)."
 
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photo by Columbus N. photo by Columbus N.
photo by Columbus N.
Ready In:
12hrs 20mins
Ingredients:
6
Serves:
4-6
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ingredients

  • 1 medium onion, chopped fine
  • 1 lb fresh lump crabmeat
  • 4 ounces Wesson Oil
  • 3 ounces cider vinegar
  • 4 ounces ice water (as cold as you can get it)
  • salt and pepper
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directions

  • Follow these instructions to the letter!
  • Spread half of onion over bottom of large bowl.
  • Cover with separated crab lumps.
  • Add the remaining onion.
  • Salt and pepper.
  • Pour oil, vinegar and ice water over all.
  • Cover and marinate 2-12 hours.
  • Toss lightly before serving.
  • Serve as a"salad" on a bed of lettuce or on crackers as an appetizer.
  • Variation: Substitute royal red shrimp for the crabmeat.

Questions & Replies

  1. Do you cut up the royal red shrimp
     
  2. This is raw crabmeat?
     
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Reviews

  1. I live just down the road from Bayleys and their West Indies Salad is amazing. It is one of those special dishes that you have to try when you visit. Like a muffaletta or gumbo in New Orleans, BBQ brisket in Texas, Lobster rolls and clam chowder in Maine, etc. BTW, you can call Bayleys and if you are going to pass by on your vacation to Dauphin Island or for any other reason and order their West Indies Salad by the quart. We do it all the time when we need to bring something to a get together and it is always the first dish to disappear.
     
  2. I was born and raised in Mobile, AL. My family made a special outing to Bill Bayley's restaurant which I always looked forward to! Bayley's West Indies Salad was always something that we ordered! That, along with their fried crab claws were our dinner... Although I was young, I still remember Mr. Bayley and walking through the kitchen area to the dining area in the rear of the restaurant!
     
  3. Used to eat this at Perry's Seafood (closed long ago) at the foot of the old Bayou Chico bridge in Pensacola in the 70's. Using white or yellow onions is the way to go and yes, keep the oil to a minimum.
     
  4. Crabmeat as God intended it to be enjoyed!
     
  5. Partly true. Bill Bayley was having dinner with Curtis and Mary Louise Bush in their new home on Dauphin Island. Mary Louise had recently returned from a visit with her son in Jamaica and prepared a wonderful salad she had discovered while visiting the West Indies. Bill asked her permission to use the recipe, to which she gladly obliged.
     
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Tweaks

  1. I grew up in Pensacola, Fl., 60 miles east of Mobile and many people traveled to Bayleys (known mostly for their seafood) and the West Indies salad became a Gulf Coast tradition. I never remember red onions, only sweet white onions and my mother used ice cubes instead of ice water. Same results. I am still in Pensacola and going to make some this weekend. yummm
     
  2. We've been making this since the 80's....my ex-mother-in-law showed me how to make it. She lived in Pensacola for a while, and this is great! Often we substitute Cento Red Wine Vinegar for the cider vinegar. I think I prefer the Cento! This is one of the all time great recipes. All you have to do is serve it on top of saltine crackers....this is fabulous!
     

RECIPE SUBMITTED BY

I'm an educational specialist with my own assistive technology company. That means that we specialize in computer and technology products for those who are low vision, blind, physically challenged or learning impaired. I'm retired from teaching special education in the public schools (LD). My husband is blind so we often cook together. We search for good recipes on the Internet. I love reading recipes and going to neat recipe sites like Recipezaar. My background is Midwest Dutch-American. I actually grew up in Western Michigan but settled in the South after college. Besides cooking together, my husband and I enjoy traveling, reading the latest fiction and using computers. We're cat-people. We have twenty-two inside. We have no children.
 
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