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Crabs

Crabs

When I was a kid growing up on the Gulf Coast, I never liked to eat crabs as much as other seafood, but I liked to go crabbing. It took a boat and nets to catch shrimp, and a boat and oyster tongs to harvest oysters, but anyone could go crabbing. Where we lived, the shallow waters along the beach and the mouths of the bayous fairly teemed with blue crabs. They were pests when you were fishing, because they'd eat your bait. If crabs were your quarry, though, you could sometimes get them with just a string and a chicken neck or a piece of pork or beef bone with a little fat and gristle clinging to it. You'd just lower it down into the water and when you thought a crab had a good grip on it, slowly lift it up. The crab often refused to let go of the meat, even to save himself, and you could carefully just lift him out of the water and into a bucket. Crabs are not one of the most intelligent creatures in the sea.

A more sure-fire way to catch them was to use a drop crab net, also known as a ring net. This consisted of two metal rings connected by netting, a larger top ring and a smaller bottom one, also with a net bottom. You'd tie your piece of bait (usually a beef bone, fish head, pork bone, or chicken neck) in the center of the netting of the small ring and then lower it into the water, where it flattened out on the bottom. The larger ring was attached to a string in such a way that, when you lifted the contraption up, it formed a basket, trapping the crab that would be in the center munching on the chicken neck. You pulled the basket up, carefully picked up the crab, keeping your fingers away from his pincers, and dropped him into your pail. When you had a bucket full of good-sized crabs, then you headed home.

When you got them home, there were several ways to cook them, including baking or deviling or whatever. The main way we cooked them, though, was to drop them into a big pot of boiling water seasoned with Zatarain's Crab and Shrimp Boil. You could then eat them or pick out the white meat and freeze it for future use. The process of eating them was similar to eating lobster claws. You have to crack the shell and the legs and pick out the good stuff. Melted butter and lemon juice make for tasty bites of crab meat.

We don't have enough blue crabs in Maine waters to go crabbing for them yet. According to the Fisheries folks, they are moving up this way as the Gulf of Maine warms due to climate change, so we'll have them soon enough. What we do have are "Joshua" crabs and "Peekytoe" crabs, both of which are edible and often served in restaurants. We also have an invasive newcomer called "green crabs". Green crabs are edible, and the fisheries people have been trying to encourage their use in Maine restaurants, but I haven't seen them available in seafood stores or restaurants yet. Maybe this summer I'll try them if I find them offered in restaurants.

Some of the crab recipes on the site:

https://hungrybrowser.com/phaedrus/m042222f.htm">Ralph and Kacoo's Marinated Crab Claws

https://www.hungrybrowser.com/phaedrus/m0521M12.htm#2 ">Ernest's Marinated Crab Claws

https://www.hungrybrowser.com/phaedrus/m0215M10.htm#3">Morrison's Crabmeat au Gratin with Cream Sauce

https://www.hungrybrowser.com/phaedrus/m0822M11.htm#1">Sea Breeze Crab Chalieu

https://www.hungrybrowser.com/phaedrus/m031003.htm#1">Crab Imperial

https://www.hungrybrowser.com/phaedrus/m0524F13.htm#3">Biloxi White Pillars Crab Mushrooms

https://www.hungrybrowser.com/phaedrus/m0228fa20.htm">Corris Guy & Helms Bakery Crab Papaya Appetizer

https://www.hungrybrowser.com/phaedrus/m0727ma20.htm">Morrison's Crab Meat Salad

https://www.hungrybrowser.com/phaedrus/m0921W11.htm#3">Bistro Time Crab Cakes

https://www.hungrybrowser.com/phaedrus/m061703.htm#5">Imperial Crab Cakes

https://www.hungrybrowser.com/phaedrus/m0510M04.htm#5">Spenger's Crab Cakes

https://www.hungrybrowser.com/phaedrus/m0819wa20.htm">Morrison's Crab Cakes

https://hungrybrowser.com/phaedrus//m052603.htm">Trader Vic's Crab Rangoon

https://hungrybrowser.com/phaedrus//m070701.htm#1">Garlic Crabs

https://www.hungrybrowser.com/phaedrus/m082802.htm#1">Steamed Crabs

https://www.hungrybrowser.com/phaedrus/m0602M08.htm#4 ">Panned Crab

https://www.hungrybrowser.com/phaedrus/m112702.htm#3">Crab Wontons

https://www.hungrybrowser.com/phaedrus/m1210M12.htm#4 ">Thalheimer's Deviled Crab

https://www.hungrybrowser.com/phaedrus/m0116M12.htm#3">Evangeline Restaurant Stuffed Crabs

https://www.hungrybrowser.com/phaedrus/m0302M15.htm#3">Crab Poulette

https://www.hungrybrowser.com/phaedrus/m1024M11.htm#3">Stuffed Crabs Like Copeland's

Boiled Blue Crabs

Ingredients
3 quarts water
1 package Zatarain's Crawfish, Shrimp & Crab Boil for 1 dozen crabs. Add more spice if you like.
1/4 cup salt (optional)
1 lemon, quartered
1 dozen crabs - preferably medium-sized blue crabs

Directions
1. Bring water, Crab Boil Bag, salt and lemon to boil in large pot. 
2. Place crabs carefully in liquid.  Return to boil.
3. Cook 20 minutes.  Let stand 5 minutes before removing crabs from liquid

Tip:  To make crabs easier to pick, add 2 tablespoons vinegar to water.
Comments:
You can also cook ears of corn and/or small potatoes in the crab boil with the crabs. 
Any leftover cooked crabs should be picked and the meat frozen for use in other dishes.