Thread: Blue Crabs?

I am thinking seafood for supper now

Originally Posted by DockShootinJack

I am thinking seafood for supper now

Lol. Yeah.
I just fried bluegill for lunch


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Some years back i entered a crab throw down contest. There were about a dozen teams, but I had no teammate. I showed up and the other teams had entire operations and gadgets and all manner of things. I had a little pot. Every single team came to my area and laughed at me. One even said he would cover for me if I needed to get away without being shamed.

After the judging was complete, every one knew that I had won. Not only won but won big.

I grew up pulling pots from the depths of the Potomac River. My family had a crab business and kids can be made to get up before the Sun rises.

My advice is as follows:

Using a large cooler, add some ice and some water and a bit of rock salt to make a slurry. A very cold slurry. Not too much water. Check each crab for signs of life. If the legs do not move do not eat that crab, place in trash. Crabs spoil extremely quickly and you can get extremely sick from a dead crab. After assuring that they are alive, drop into the slurry. You want the crab to go under the top layer of ice and down in to the freezing water.

After a few minutes extract the stunned crab and flip him upside down on a cutting board. Place a hatchet along his midline and using your hand to hit it, cut the crab clean in two. Now you have two halves. Peel away shell, lungs, facial parts, and rinse with hose to remove innards and juices. These are were the vast majority of pollutants are found. Anyways you want the crab to be clean.

Next use a steamer, do NOT boil crabs. I add water, beer, and Old Bay seasoning and salt and a little bit of vinegar. The vinegar helps the meat to pull free from the shell. Boil this liquid and let it go for a while. When ready to cook, place in the steamer basket.

Grab a halved crab and shake Old Bay seasoning onto it. You can use a little or a lot, but keep in mind that much of it will remain on the crab after cooking. I sprinkle onto the exposed meat areas and throw into a bowl, then sprinkle the bowl some and toss.

Add crabs to steamer and begin process. Do not over load the steamer or your results will suffer. Add fewer than what looks right. The crabs cook very quickly. They turn red and once that happens they are done. You can always cook a few at first and time them and then eat them to ensure doneness. Over cooked crabs do NOT peel well. You want to be able to break the shell, and have the meat inside pull free in a lump.

Dip in vinegar and beer with some Old Bay mixed in. Do not rub your eyes with seasoning on your fingers. Do not serve just crabs, rather you can steam shrimp in this same cauldron, using same liquid. The liquid in the bottom needs to be monitored so it does not dry out. Add water to keep levels good. Some folks prefer shrimp to crabs, trust me they do.

Mistakes you will make. Overloading the pot, running low on liquid, over cooking the crabs.


Having said all that I no longer buy bushels of crabs as the cost is clearly unreasonable. I now buy Lump Fin Crab in cans and make crab cakes. Mmmmmmm……. I add an egg to a one pound can of crab. About a dozen Saltines, and a small gob of mayonnaise. With crab cakes the more you add to the meat the more you take away from the flavor. Use very small amounts of anything being added. Fry cakes in bacon grease if you got it. Keep the temperature down so the oil doesn’t smoke. Be patient as the lower temperature requires more time. I make my patties about 3/4” thick and can get six or seven patties from one can. My wife’s favorite food. I told her it was destiny that we met.

So good luck with them crabs. Remember to be kind and don’t boil live crabs…….please. I hate seeing the little fellers getting that treatment. Their latin name means “beautiful swimmer”. They are feisty and look funny but we are very lucky God created these devils for our enjoyment.

Originally Posted by Micanopy

Some years back i entered a crab throw down contest. There were about a dozen teams, but I had no teammate. I showed up and the other teams had entire operations and gadgets and all manner of things. I had a little pot. Every single team came to my area and laughed at me. One even said he would cover for me if I needed to get away without being shamed.

After the judging was complete, every one knew that I had won. Not only won but won big.

I grew up pulling pots from the depths of the Potomac River. My family had a crab business and kids can be made to get up before the Sun rises.

My advice is as follows:

Using a large cooler, add some ice and some water and a bit of rock salt to make a slurry. A very cold slurry. Not too much water. Check each crab for signs of life. If the legs do not move do not eat that crab, place in trash. Crabs spoil extremely quickly and you can get extremely sick from a dead crab. After assuring that they are alive, drop into the slurry. You want the crab to go under the top layer of ice and down in to the freezing water.

After a few minutes extract the stunned crab and flip him upside down on a cutting board. Place a hatchet along his midline and using your hand to hit it, cut the crab clean in two. Now you have two halves. Peel away shell, lungs, facial parts, and rinse with hose to remove innards and juices. These are were the vast majority of pollutants are found. Anyways you want the crab to be clean.

Next use a steamer, do NOT boil crabs. I add water, beer, and Old Bay seasoning and salt and a little bit of vinegar. The vinegar helps the meat to pull free from the shell. Boil this liquid and let it go for a while. When ready to cook, place in the steamer basket.

Grab a halved crab and shake Old Bay seasoning onto it. You can use a little or a lot, but keep in mind that much of it will remain on the crab after cooking. I sprinkle onto the exposed meat areas and throw into a bowl, then sprinkle the bowl some and toss.

Add crabs to steamer and begin process. Do not over load the steamer or your results will suffer. Add fewer than what looks right. The crabs cook very quickly. They turn red and once that happens they are done. You can always cook a few at first and time them and then eat them to ensure doneness. Over cooked crabs do NOT peel well. You want to be able to break the shell, and have the meat inside pull free in a lump.

Dip in vinegar and beer with some Old Bay mixed in. Do not rub your eyes with seasoning on your fingers. Do not serve just crabs, rather you can steam shrimp in this same cauldron, using same liquid. The liquid in the bottom needs to be monitored so it does not dry out. Add water to keep levels good. Some folks prefer shrimp to crabs, trust me they do.

Mistakes you will make. Overloading the pot, running low on liquid, over cooking the crabs.


Having said all that I no longer buy bushels of crabs as the cost is clearly unreasonable. I now buy Lump Fin Crab in cans and make crab cakes. Mmmmmmm……. I add an egg to a one pound can of crab. About a dozen Saltines, and a small gob of mayonnaise. With crab cakes the more you add to the meat the more you take away from the flavor. Use very small amounts of anything being added. Fry cakes in bacon grease if you got it. Keep the temperature down so the oil doesn’t smoke. Be patient as the lower temperature requires more time. I make my patties about 3/4” thick and can get six or seven patties from one can. My wife’s favorite food. I told her it was destiny that we met.

So good luck with them crabs. Remember to be kind and don’t boil live crabs…….please. I hate seeing the little fellers getting that treatment. Their latin name means “beautiful swimmer”. They are feisty and look funny but we are very lucky God created these devils for our enjoyment.

Thank you so much for the information and the time you put into writing that post! I truly appreciate it, as I am going in completely naive to this.


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the little versions that aint legal to keep ,that get in the traps are some kind of mean rascals with EXTRA sharp pinchers and will inflict a rather painful blood loss pinch when you try to get a herd of them back into the water, sometimes they will even chase you a bit .....
as far as cooking them we had no clue and just put them alive into a big pot with crab boil and water in it ,but to be sure i bet steamed like mentioned is mmmmm good

you don't want to boil crabs , steaming is the way to go

Steamed shrimp are good also

Wow, Miconapy, I too would like to thank you for the beautiful write up.
Thanks for your time.
I love when I learn new stuff!!


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