The 5 Steps to Crabbing

Hi everyone. This blog entry is a long time in coming for no good reason, as these pictures are from early August. Sorry for the delay. I know you have all been anxiously awaiting photos of ALL of the crabs we have caught over the past few weeks here...

Okay, so, we're sad to report that we have caught and eaten exactly one crab. And in fact, we cannot even claim this one, as my (Jenny's) dad caught it -- and accidentally, at that, while he was fishing!! At least we have something to show you, though.

Here is the process as far as we can tell (and we obviously don't know much) for how to catch, cook and eat a blue crab.

1. CATCH & NET HIM - preferably with a crab trap and not a fishing pole, though the latter works (esp. with squid on the end), just so long as you can land and net him (it's very easy to lose them when they get close to shore - they get scared and drop off the line easily).

2. PLACE HIM IN A BUCKET - easier said than done, as he can easily get tangled up in the net. However, once in, he is not getting out.

3. BRING HIM HOME & PLACE HIM IN ICE - if not freezing him, this sufficiently terrifies the crab so that he no longer tries to escape and is unable to move his claws fast enough to pinch you.

4. COOK HIM - the easiest way is to place him in a pot of boiling water for about 15 minutes. It's best if the water has some flavoring in it. Ben did this part, so I am not sure of the ingredients, as he says that he put in "spices - random spices."

5. EAT & ENJOY - as you can tell, he is now red, hot, and ready to eat. Of course, you need to remove a few parts in order to do so... unless you are Jenny's Uncle Steve, in which case you MIGHT just eat the entire thing whole (as he does with shrimp), but we don't recommend that.

P.S. We inadvertently assumed that the crab above is male, but you can take note that the process is the same for the She Crabs :)