3 Blue Crab Crazy (with Video!)

As I mentioned recently, we went on a long road trip.  Ella and I stayed for a few days with my parents in Maryland, and we decided on a last-minute whim to get some live crabs.  Our dad was pretty disenchanted, because he believes that anything that takes that much time and effort to get food out of is worthless. This is not news to us, and we nevertheless forged on while Daddy shook his head and hid in his bedroom while we made phone calls (so-and-so-knew-a-guy who has fresh crabs for a good deal.)

It has been years and years since we have tackled an actual bushel of crabs, and even then we have historically never dealt with live ones.  There is good reason for this.  It's kind of crazy, not to mention labor-intensive!  My sisters and I had a hilarious time getting these little buggers steamed up for dinner.

We were worried that the crabs would expire before we all returned from seeing the Brave movie, and were anxious to perhaps transfer them to a roomier abode before we left. I lifted the cover in preparation to dump them into a larger plastic tub.  Sister A was skeptical that we should disturb them.

Whatever.  They looked totally harmless.  In fact, the top couple were lifeless (I somehow missed that my brother-in-law had to actually incapacitate them on the trip in the car because they kept escaping!)

So here's what happened next.



Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing
Sister A was the one up on the chair screeching and had grabbed her iPhone (unbeknownst to my sister E and I, who were the intrepid ones scrambling to pick up the escapees with tongs and...pasta spoons? without getting pinched.) What you can't see on the video is the crabs escaping from the back of the bushel basket.

We abandoned the 'roomier abode' idea as soon as we retrieved all of them, slapped the cover back on that bushel (we were pretty sure they were alive and kicking...literally) and headed out to our movie, hoping that the cover was strong enough to hold them unsupervised, and that the escapee crabs didn't know how to climb up smooth surfaces.

So we were all ready to go. Crabs? Check. Newspaper? Check. Vinegar? Check. Beer? Check. Commecial-sized container of Old Bay? CHECK!

Giant steaming pot? Fail. We resorted to rigging the largest pots we had, (which were none-too-large) and turning wooden bowls upside down in the bottom to help keep the crabs out of the steaming water. I don't have any pictures of this, but it was my idea and pretty genius, if I do say so myself. ;)

It took forever to do them in these small batches. We had to employ a three-person line. I was in charge of the pot (and slapping the cover on after the hapless crab was tossed in), sister E was the crab-grabbing boss, and sister S had to keep the rest of the crabs incarcerated. Mom and sister A were conveniently absent. It was only after we were 1/4 of the way through that BIL volunteered to get his dad's crab steaming pots.

Yay! Crabs, steamed in beer, vinegar and Old Bay.

The crab feast.

This was really fun for a change, but man, next time we're heading to a restaurant!  Long-live Maryland!

Have you ever steamed your own live crabs?

2 Maryland Cream of Crab Soup

There is [almost] nothing else that makes my heart go pitter-patter more than Maryland blue crabs - and especially in cream of crab soup.  They are just slightly out of season now, but the weather's gotten to that point where you want a nice warm soup bubbling away on top of your stove.  This recipe has been in my family for four generations.  There are only a few ingredients, but they are all non-negotiable.  You have to have them all, or you can't come crying back to me saying that it wasn't amazing.  And trust me, it is.

You'll need:

1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped

1 tablespoon butter
1 cup strong chicken stock (1 cup stock + 2 bouillon cubes or equivalent)
1 quart rich milk (equal parts heavy cream and whole milk)
1 tablespoon parsley, fresh or dried
1/2 heaping teaspoon celery salt
1/2 heaping teaspoon ground mace
Dash of red ground pepper or flakes
Pepper and salt to taste
1 pound backfin/lump crab meat (picked over of all shell)
1/3 cup Harvey Bristol Cream sherry (use only REAL cream sherry, never cooking sherry)
flour to thicken

In a pot over medium heat, start by sauteeing the onion in the butter until it is just translucent.  We do not want browning in any way, shape or form here. 

Add chicken stock and slowly pour in milk.

Add all seasonings except sherry. Now, when I was making this the other day, I was frantic because I could find every single herb, spice and spice-blend in existence except for the celery salt!  Do you know that awful feeling when you've just returned from the store to buy the one thing you knew you didn't have, and then realize you don't have the other thing you should actually have?  By the way, do you know I have two spice cupboards, plus a bunch next to my stovetop?  It's insane.  I pulled two boxes down in my search.

A-HA!  Gotcha!  It's celery seed, not salt, so I added a bit of sea salt too.  At this point I was relieved I didn't have to go run out to Publix again.

Mace:  It's not just for self defense!  It's so good - it's warm and nutty, not unlike nutmeg.  Delicious and totally makes cream of crab soup what it is.

Stir in crab meat, cleaned of all shell, and simmer 15 minutes. A word on the crab meat.  Please don't use any other kind of crab meat, or worst of all [strangled gasp]...imitation crab.  If I saw this I'd go rock in a corner. Also, you must pick it over, even if what you buy swears that it's virtually shell-free.  We always used to go down to Market Street in Baltimore to get ours, or more often the market at the Annapolis Harbor...it's that squat little building behind the trees.  I broke up with my first serious boyfriend on a bench in front of those hedges there.  Never give jewelry back, girls.

If you don't live near Maryland and can't get fresh blue crabs, I'd recommend Phillips brand.  I know my Costco sells Phillips, and that's where I picked this up, being that I currently live no where close to Maryland.

Stir in crab meat, cleaned of all shell, and simmer 15 minutes. 

Make a thin paste with about 2 TBS flour and a little water. 

Stir into soup to thicken slightly. Make sure you let it bubble while stirring for a few minutes to let the flour cook, so it doesn't have that raw flour taste.  Before serving, remove from heat and stir in sherry.  Stir carefully so that you don't break up the crab meat too much.  Let thicken as desired, and I like my soup fairly thick.  

I can hear my mother screaming now, "What?!  That's not Harvey's!"  Nope, it's not Harvey's, which she has made my dad drive out in the snow to get from Latella's package store.  I'm not a sherry connoisseur, but any good cream sherry is better than cooking sherry, and I had Sheffield on hand.  Repeat after me: "I will NEVER use cooking sherry in this recipe."

When you serve you can do as we do and leave the Harvey's out for guests to add willy-nilly.  It's the best!

You'll need:

1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped

1 tablespoon butter

1 cup strong chicken stock (1 cup stock + 2 bouillon cubes or equivalent)

1 quart rich milk (equal parts heavy cream and whole milk)

1 tablespoon parsley, fresh or dried

1/2 heaping teaspoon celery salt

1/2 heaping teaspoon ground mace

Dash of red ground pepper or flakes

Pepper and salt to taste

1 pound backfin/lump crab meat (picked over of all shell)

1/3 cup Harvey Bristol Cream sherry (use only this brand!)

flour to thicken

Cook onion in butter until transparent. Add chicken stock and slowly pour in milk. Add all seasonings except sherry. Stir in crab meat, cleaned of all shell, and simmer 15 minutes. Make a thin paste with about 2 TBS flour and a little water. Stir into soup to thicken slightly. Before serving, remove from heat and stir in sherry.