Soft Shell Crabs?
"Soft Shell Crabs" are the soft bodied, freshly molted blue crab.
Guest Writer for FishingChef.com
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The blue crab, Callinectes
sapidus, famous in the mid-Atlantic States, is
the variety being discussed here. The blue crab has a potential
life span of about three years. In that life span, it becomes
a soft shell just after each molt and is in this stage for less
than a couple of hours. In their three-year life span, this crab
may molt between 18 to 23 times. The peak times for the molting
stages are May through September; thus the beginning and ending
of the
soft shell crab season.
The soft shells
arrive fresh and live. In my restaurant kitchens, the season's
first delivery of soft shell crabs is a highly anticipated event.
They arrive on the dock tightly packed in shallow cardboard boxes
lined up like tiny soldiers, in perfect formation and dressed
in brilliant red, white and blue uniforms, covered in hay to keep
them moist and alive.
On this first
delivery, a few crabs are sacrificed to a speedy cook's ritual
one-eye-on-the-door for the owner, then 'address the crabs': faces
removed, gills trimmed and aprons pulled off (the crabs). A quick
salt, pepper, dust of flour and into a hot sauté pan. They
are then torn apart with a pair of tongs, dipped into whatever
Remoulade or pesto is on the prep carts. These hijacked offerings
are usually prepped, devoured and all evidence disposed of within
5 minutes after checking in the delivery—you just can't
wait.
Differences
in Preparation Between Hard Shell and Soft Shell Crabs
The hard shell
blue crabs are considerably more stubborn in relinquishing their
tasty tid-bits. The hard shell crab is first cooked in court
bouillon or a crab
boil mix. Then the fun begins—removing the tiny
edible portions from the crab's armor defenses. At this stage
you will need formal training: a mallet, picker, knife and brut
force are the equipment and the challenge is to access the meat.
The hard shell protects the arms and claws. The carapace presents
another challenge in that the meat is segmented by numerous slots
of hard and brittle shell. These shell pieces do break off and
find their way into the meat during removal. More than a few cooks
have made crab cakes that had an additional crunch other than
just what the panko crust had imparted.
Hard shell
crabs provide the commercially available crab seen in #1 can size
'lump' meat (removed from the carapace) and 'claw' meat from,
yes, the claw but also the merus (arm section) may be included.
The hard shell
crabs are fun to eat and better suited to outdoor picnic benches,
with some old clothes, a big mallet, and a few hours to relax
and pick and scrape through the carnage of shells and mallet-smashed
meat.
Soft shell
crab preparation is much simpler: you eat the entire crab—shell
and all except for some small unpleasant bits that are easily
removed in less than a minute during prep. Prep includes
some snips with only a pair of kitchen shears or regular scissors
and the crab is ready to cook. Crab eating free from teeth shattering
crunches.
Recipes
for Soft Shell Crab
Good recipes
are as simple as salt and pepper and a dredging in flour. A quick
sauté in hot pan and served with a favorite brand of cocktail
sauce or on a bun with lettuce, tomato and onion. For stunningly
sophisticated simplicity, check out the soft shell crab recipe
from The
French Laundry Cookbook
.
Enjoy the
softies and work to preserve our resources.
