Crab Rangoon

Real crab makes a difference but imitation works for budget. Cream cheese must be room temperature for smooth mixing. Seal edges completely to prevent bursting. Fry at 350°F until deep golden. Sweet chili sauce is the classic accompaniment.

Crab Rangoon is a purely American invention that emerged from the mid-20th-century tiki culture that romanticized Polynesian and Asian cuisines for American diners. Wikipedia confirms it appeared on the menu of Trader Vic's in Beverly Hills in 1955 and San Francisco since at least 1956, with Victor Bergeron (Trader Vic) and Chinese-American chef Joe Young both credited with its creation. The defining ingredient — cream cheese — makes the dish's American origin unmistakable: cream cheese was invented in Chester, New York in 1872 and trademarked as Philadelphia Brand Cream Cheese in 1880; it is not used in any traditional Chinese, Burmese, or Polynesian cuisine. The name references Rangoon, now called Yangon, the largest city of Myanmar, though the dish has no authentic Burmese connection. Bergeron claimed Chinese origins via Hawaii, but food historians consider this a false provenance invented to give the dish tiki-appropriate exotic credentials. By the 1970s and 1980s, crab rangoon had migrated from tiki restaurants into American Chinese takeout menus nationwide, where imitation crab (surimi — pollock processed with starch and flavoring, developed in Japan in 1975) replaced real crab in most versions. It now appears on virtually every American Chinese restaurant menu, a beloved product of pure American culinary invention.