Got Crabs!?!?

Recently we have had a lot of friends and relatives visiting. It has been crazy but so much fun. This past weekend, two of my good friends from college, Sara and Emily, came for a visit. They were excited for some Maryland fun and requested crabs. Friday night we went out and discovered that they were a little pricier than we had expected. Sara and I then got this idea....what if we make them ourselves!!! I was a little wary because I have eaten crabs plenty but never made them myself. I also wasn't sure if I had all that we needed to steam crabs. I did know a little about how to do it though.

So we decided we would try and do it for dinner on Saturday night. Friday night we researched a little bit about them. I knew just the place to get live blue crabs! I mean I practically live in the bay. Saturday morning (before the beach) we went to few yard sales. I ended up finding a couple great items. I found a bread maker which I have been looking for. Currently it is making my first loaf of white bread. That is for another post though. I also found a few old stock pots, one regular and one with a steamer pot and also a double boiler. None of these I have so I asked the guy how much he wanted for them all. He said $5! I knew that steaming our own crabs was meant to be...we now had our crab pot.

After the great beach adventure...we stopped at Tyler's on the way home and picked up 2 dozen LIVE blue crabs. They also gave us some of their special seasoning to use instead of old bay. I figured we would try it.

Now the fun part. We get these crabs in brown paper bags and quick take them home and set up shop. It was quite an experience trying to get everything together. We worried the crabs would die fast. They were fine feisty little fellas.



We prepared the pot by filling the bottom with water, half of a beer, a splash of vinegar and a 1/4 cup of seasoning (old bay or your own). Bring the liquid to a boil and make sure that the liquid is below the steam pot.

Yes that is Fordam Cooperhead we are using for beer!

Our first round we had to let some of the liquid boil off before putting the crabs in.

After the pot was ready we began the crazy process of trying to get the crabs out of the bag. I will admit we were all kind of scared, those little buggers fought us (and each other). We used tongs to pull one out to layer in the pot. The fun part was trying to pry them apart from each other. Once we touched one it got mad and then made the others mad. They were all moving around and clamping on each other.

Here we are planning our next move

Get OFF of him!

After getting a couple in the pot we poured beer over them and added some seasoning. We repeated this till we got a full put approximately 10-12 in each pot.

After filling up the pot, cover and let steam for 30 minutes. Then remove the steamer and place on paper covered table. Finally START PICKING!

This is mid way through the process.

You can really see the crabs covered in the seasoning. We had some vinegar and butter for dipping. Picking a crab is a fun process, if you have never done it...you should try it. Get ready for some dirty hands and good eats. Make sure you have some beer to go with it!

For two dozen crabs we steamed 3 pots full. We didn't want to over stuff the pot. Also, the pot needs to be boiling but does not need to stay on high heat. Check mid way to see if you need more liquid. We added water to our second pot. You know the crabs are done when they are bright red/orange. Try cracking into a claw and if the meat pulls out easily they are FINISHED.

Now that I have steamed my own crabs I feel like a real Marylander. I could not have done it without Sara and Emily. The experience will never be forgotten...neither will the constant cursing over moving the crabs to the steamer....



Kat