Crab Rangoon, I love you so!

Dearly Beloved,

I was just reading the latest edition of Sauce magazine when this article rating various St. Louis restaurants' Crab Rangoon brought a tear to my eye. Here's the link...http://www.saucemagazine.com./article/1.

You see, in my adopted country, Crab Rangoon is virtually unheard of. Here the requisite non-Chinese Chinese restaurant appetizer is "Chicken Balls", which actually taste a little better than you might imagine they would. They are, however, a poor, backward, hair-lipped country cousin when held up in comparison to the glories that are Crab Rangoon.

I have seen the Rangoon once in Winnipeg, at Hu's on First (which is, as you might have guessed, a Chinese restaurant at the ballpark), and so of course I ordered it with alacrity. They came out cigar shaped, and full of actual crab. I found this rather disconcerting, since I share this guy's sentiments (http://www.flickr.com/photos/slice/7180444/). A four-horned Rangoon is the way to go, absolutely. And I also prefer my Rangoon to be ironic, containing no crab whatsoever, but with a slightly sweet and salty cream cheese interior, a crispy on the edges, chewy closer-to-the-middle wonton, and green onions for fiber. And for dipping, only a ladle-full of gloppy, heavily red-food colored sweet-and-sour sauce will do.

It is interesting to note that even though I think of the Rangoon as ubiquitously American, it's really a Midwestern phenomenon, so it's not just Canadians who are missing out on the goodness, but right-and-left coasted Americans as well.

So I end by exhorting all you readers in close proximity to a friendly Chinese-American restaurant serving perfectly browned, four-horned Crab Rangoon to go out and indulge immediately in this Midwest flavor sensation on behalf of those of us who are geographically disabled. And rest assured, once the fabled 'Cousin Sarah's House of the South' opens its Winnipeg front doors, Crab Rangoon will be the first appetizer listed on the menu.