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Pastimes : Don't Ask Rambi -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: nihil who wrote (20599)	4/6/1999 7:39:00 AM
From: Rambi	Respond to of 71178

Softshell crabs are icky. I'm an expert at pulling the shell off with the crab tab as we call it-like opening a sardine can. But I do use a mallet on the legs. One good swat and I can get the meat out whole. (It's a gift, she admits modestly.)

To: nihil who wrote (20599)	4/6/1999 9:42:00 AM
From: BlueCrab	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 71178

Mallets are what steam crab restaurants give their patrons,many of whom have not the skill to open their crabs with any implement more complex. Can you imagine giving a slip-joint pliers to a half-drunk patron? Now I'd love to see something like that on one of those "Home Video" shows, but I would not want to pay the owner's insurance bills. I have seen people at crabslams bring nut-crackers and such; once I saw a guy who had a silver "crab pick",; looked like a pipe tool and probably was. But elegance don't count; I m'self used only teeth and claws on crabs. I used to catch a half-dozen or so at my little basement apartment on the Magothy River (just west of Annapolis) in the mornings and give 'em to my landlady at lunch; by suppertime she had a pot of she-crab soup ready, and would give me a couple quarts. ON SOFTCRAB... When I lived in B'more we would buy a half-dozen or so softcrab sandwiches and munch on them at Hop lacrosse games, washing them down with Black Jack we had "smuggled" in. I have some really fond memories of softcrab, but most of the good softies stayed real close to where they were caught; I never had a really good one (vis. the crab sandwiches)until I worked on the bay. We had (during the mid-70s) a wonderful and unique perspective on the crab situation.

To: nihil who wrote (20599)	4/6/1999 9:52:00 AM
From: Ilaine	Respond to of 71178

I use the metal handle of a stainless steel kitchen knife on the claws. It makes a narrow indentation, much like you get when you crack an egg against the rim of a glass bowl. This is sufficient to crack open the shell of the claws, and there is little chitin in the meat, unlike when a mallet is used. I never saw a mallet until we moved here. We don't use them. A nice sharp knife is all you need to get the meat out of the body - that's what the women who "peel" crabs for a living use. Softshell crabs are yummy, if they are fresh, not too old, and on the small side. I prefer deep fried, but sauteed is ok.