From Craig Claiborne’s Southern Cooking
By Craig Claiborne, The University of Georgia Press

Ingredients
1/3 cup sour cream
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon paprika
Salt to taste, if desired
Freshly ground pepper to taste
3/4 pound fresh crabmeat, preferably lump or backfin, picked over to remove all trace of shell and cartilage
2 or 3 ripe, unblemished avocados, split in half and seeded

Mayonnaise:
1 egg yolk
1 tablespoon lemon juice, or more to taste
1 teaspoon Dijon or other imported mustard, or more to taste
Salt to taste, if desired
Freshly ground pepper to taste
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup peanut, vegetable, or corn oil
Tabasco sauce to taste

Instructions
1. Make the mayonnaise: Put the yolk into a mixing bowl and add 1 tablespoon lemon juice, 1 teaspoon mustard, salt and pepper. Gradually add the oils, beating rapidly with a wire whisk. As the mixture starts to thicken, the oil may be added more rapidly. Add a touch of Tabasco, more salt, pepper, lemon juice, and/or mustard to taste.

2. Combine the sour cream and 1/3 cup of the mayonnaise in a mixing bowl. Stir in the lemon juice, paprika, salt, and pepper. Fold in the crabmeat, stirring as little as possible so as not to break up the lumps.

3. Fill the avocado halves with the mixture, and serve.

Serves 4 to 6.