How to cook soft-shell crabs, a seasonal delicacy
“Tell people they can eat the whole thing,” one of my colleagues urged me when I told her I planned to write about soft-shell crabs.
If you love blue crabs but are daunted by all that cracking and picking, consider this waste-free, less messy and delicious way to eat them. The key is getting the freshest, tenderest crabs you can find.
One of my favorite food memories from my days as a reporter at the Daily Comet in Thibodaux, La., is when a neighbor knocked on my door. She and her fisherman husband had come across some soft shells, and she wanted to know if I wanted a share of them. She held out a tray with live small crabs.
They obviously had just recently swum free of their old shells. I was so excited that I hope I said thank you as I quickly took them inside. Immediately, I called my mother and asked how to clean them. I sauteed them in a couple of tablespoons of butter, sprinkled them with salt and pepper, and devoured them with a few quick squeezes of lemon.
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And that’s how I’d recommend cooking soft shells if — and this is a big if — you can find them when they are at that just-right soft and pliable stage.
Blue crabs molt about 20 times in their lifetime. This is how they grow. They shed their outer shell, then take in water, causing the softened shell to expand and grow. Within a couple of hours after they shed, the new shell begins hardening. Once they reach “paper shell” stage — most experts say that is within about 12 hours — the shell is tougher. In a couple of days, the shells usually are hard once again.
Soft-shell crabs are easy to clean and prepare, so for home cooks, the toughest part is getting your hands on fresh ones. You can buy the soft shells at supermarkets and from seafood purveyors.
Rather than catching them soft, commercial fishermen catch them when they are close to molting and a black line has formed along the edge of their swimming legs. When this line turns pinkish or red, the crab is referred to as a “shedder.” The fishermen watch them molt and then remove them from the water, which stops them from hardening. Then they pack the crabs for shipping to a fish market, restaurant or processor for freezing.
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“Fresh ones are just ambrosia,” said Tenney Flynn, founding chef at GW Fins in New Orleans and author of the seafood cookbook “The Deep End of Flavor.” He recommends avoiding frozen soft shells because they are so delicate. Once frozen, they have a less-than-fresh flavor. “If they are paper shells, you can try to peel off a layer of the shell on the top shell and discard it and snip it off,” he said.
If the soft shells you are buying are live, Flynn says, you want them to be docile. “The proper attitude of a soft shell is the opposite of a [hard shell] blue crab — cowering passivity as opposed to ‘I’ll fight you.’”
The crabs I was able to find at D.C.-area markets were not as pliable I would have liked, but even at this slightly later stage, I still enjoy them. I just prefer to batter and deep fry them. You can soak them in buttermilk, but I like to simply dip them in an egg wash; batter them with seasoned cornmeal, flour or a combination; and quickly fry them until golden.
You can ask your fishmonger to clean them, but once cleaned, they should be cooked right away. Besides, crabs are easy to clean yourself.
Gently rinse them and pat them dry. Place a crab on a work surface and, with kitchen shears or a sharp knife, cut away just behind the eyes. Then slip your knife inside and pull out the stomach if you choose. (Some people do not do this, but if you are deep frying, it is a good idea, Flynn said, noting: “They’re much more likely to explode when you’re frying them, which can throw 350-degree heat around, and you don’t want that.”)
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After that, lift each top side of the shell and cut or pull off the gills. Then flip the crab over and cut off the apron — the little part that flips up — on the belly.
Try fried crabs with your favorite vegetable on the side, like the haricots verts amandine here. (Toss some of the buttery, golden almonds and garlic atop your crab, too, if you like). Or tuck them between two slices of French bread with a slice of juicy red tomato and a smear of tartar sauce or rémoulade.
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