t h e p e r f e c t recipe Soft shell crabs best simple, in butter 62 www. n A PAVA L L E Y L I F E magaz ine . c o m The Adventurous Kitchen by chef ken frank Soft shell crabs are a uniquely American seafood delicacy. All crustaceans molt the “exoskeleton,” or outer shell, as they grow. Soft shell crabs, which are in fact blue crabs that have just molted, are the only commercial fishery, most importantly in the Chesapeake Bay. The new shell on a “peeler” crab is soft but will expand and harden quickly with minerals in the water. It is a fishery rich in tradition, with its own quirks and colorful vocabulary. Recreational crabbers seek out and catch freshly molted crabs using a variety of unusual techniques. Some use traps baited with males to attract females looking to molt and mate. Some patrol the shallows, looking in the eel grass and “scapping” them with a dip net. Still others tether a male, called a “jimmy,” on a string in the shallows, who will reliably latch on to any female wandering into his radius. The crabber then reels in the pair, keeps the “rank” female and returns the frustrated jimmy to continue his quest. Commercial production is almost all accomplished in shedding barns. Hard shell crabs are harvested out on the bay with a “crab scrape” and brought ashore to be placed in long shallow tanks, sorted according to signs on the shell indicating how soon they will molt. These tanks are monitored 24/7. As soon as the crab molts, it is pulled from the water and packed before the shell can harden. Soft shell crab are marketed in five sizes, the smallest called “mediums,” then “hotels,” “primes,” “jumbos” and the largest, called “whales.” Carefully packed in eel grass, kept cool, dark and undisturbed, they can live for days out of the water. While it’s not necessary to buy them alive, they still need to be fresh enough to smell good. They should be purchased from a good fishmonger the same day you plan to cook them. The season runs from late spring through the summer. Cleaning and cooking soft shell crab is really very easy, if you know what to do. While many cooks tend to batter and fry them, I find all that dough gets in the way of their delicious sweet flavor. I prefer to cook them “naked,” in butter with lemon and maybe a little herb and garlic. The first step is to trim and clean the crab. With the crab belly down on your cutting board, pull up each side of the top shell to reveal the soft pointy little gills underneath. Trim them away where they meet the body and discard. Then turn the crab over and cut away the tail flap which curls up under the body at the rear and trim off the mandible on the front. Heat a couple of tablespoons of butter in a sauté pan over medium-plus heat until it just begins to sizzle. Add the crabs, white belly down, and cook for 3 to 4 minutes in the sizzling butter. The belly will begin to brown nicely when they’re done. Turn them on their backs and cook for another minute. Turn them back on their bellies, remove from heat and add a generous squeeze of lemon juice. Allow them to simmer in the lemon butter for about a minute before transferring to a plate to serve. Drizzle with the tasty butter from the pan. Eat the entire crab, shell and all, soaking up every last drop of butter with soft white bread. Bon appétit!
NVLife_JulyAug_2013
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