Clawsome! By Jillian Kramer Southerners’ love of seafood — and crabs, especially — runs deep. Take Mike Moore, captain and owner of the Biloxi Shrimping Trip, who began his career checking crab traps as a child. “My brothers and I would sell our catch for $2 a dozen and thought we were making a killing,” Moore laughs. Though Moore cruises the water mostly for all fish now, crabs are still close to his heart. He jokes that — should he ever be captured and tortured for confidential information — it would only take a dozen blue crabs (a true delicacy across the Gulf Coast) and a knife to make him spill the beans. “I will never get security clearance because of my weakness for blue crab,” Moore says. Perhaps it’s crabs’ abundance that appeals to us. Between the most popular varieties, you’ll never have to go a single month without access to in-season crab. Perhaps it’s crabs’ ability to taste decadent with only a bit of melted butter — or nothing at all. As Moore says, “Crab done right is best served simply.” Perhaps it’s the communal aspect of eating crabs. In the South, “eating crab is a social thing,” Moore says, and Gerard Viverito, chef and director of culinary education for the nonprofit Passionfish, agrees. “The social aspect of sitting around, picking and eating crabs with friends and family, creates lasting memories,” he explains. Or perhaps it’s crabs’ versatility: It can be added to a green salad, boiled in a spicy pot, cooked into a cake or used to top a po-boy.
But loving crab is different than knowing all about it. Where it comes from, what makes it ideal and how to prepare it are questions that can be common among home cooks who love crab but aren’t sure what kind to buy or how to eat it. Ryan Gaudet, chef of Spahr’s in Lafourche Parish, Louisiana, encourages you to not be intimidated by cooking crab at home. Instead, start small: Purchase picked, ready-to-eat meat to test out different tastes and textures. Once you know what you love outside of a restaurant setting, “you can experiment with different recipes,” he explains. No matter the crab you choose, there are some general rules to know as well. While it may seem obvious, it’s important enough to say: The larger the crab, the more meat there will be — and the easier it will be to get that meat off the body of the crab. If you’re new to cooking crabs at home, Viverito recommends starting with larger varieties. “The number 1 complaint that I hear from people is that the meat is not worth the work,” Viverito says. Start with larger varieties, then try others. You will “get better with practice,” he says, “and enjoy the journey like anything else in life.” You will also have to make sure you have enough crabmeat to feed yourself and any guests. For all varieties of crab, Viverito recommends preparing about one pound of live crab per person. Then, leave enough time to cook what you’ve bought: As a general rule, a pound of crab needs 15 minutes to cook; two pounds needs 20 minutes; three pounds need 25 minutes; and four or more pounds needs 30 minutes or more, Viverito explains.
Now, let’s dive in — pun intended — to learn everything you need to know about the four types of crab that are carried at Rouses Markets: blue crab, Dungeness crab, king crab and snow crab.
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