Say hello to Mister Toaster! (Again, just like Mr. Grilly, we're really imaginative around here.)
Second, when getting ready to cook, I discovered that our trash bag was… leaking. But I reeeally didn’t feel like cleaning and mopping and whatnot before cooking a whole meal, sooo…. Procrastination Powers Activate! Form of: A paper towel! And flip-flops!
Tonight we’re having salad, (microwaved) baked potatoes, and... drum roll please… the fantabulous, succulent, in-season wonder that is SOFT SHELL CRAB.
It’s important to remember the following commandments when cooking crab:
1. Thou shall not mask the natural flavors of the meat with too many seasonings or spices, lest ye completely defeat the purpose of making crab.
2. Thou shall not overcook the crab, thus rendering its fabulous texture rough and chewy.
3. Thou shall avoid frozen crab at all costs, NAY, UPON PAIN OF DEATH… or if not death, then at least disappointment.Those are pretty much the basics. Go for fresh crab, don’t bombard it with all sorts of flavoring, and for the love of Blog, don’t overcook it. With that in mind, let’s get started with our materials:
First things first: The crab.
Sorry, little crabbies. You were too tasty to live.
Second things second: All you need is some olive oil or butter (or substitute); some flour (if sautéing); and some salt and pepper. You can also serve this with lemon wedges if you have lemons around (we don’t), and if you like lemon with your seafood (I don’t). Also have on hand: a large plate; and a large frying pan or roasting pan, depending on if you want to sauté or roast/broil. FYI, we’re working with 8 rather small crabs. We’re using an amalgam of recipes ranging from The Joy of Cooking to Epicurious to some random website.
Before you get rolling, go ahead and throw together your side dishes. Hopefully you’ve chosen simple ones that can be prepared ahead of time, or you have a sous-chef with opposable thumbs, unlike some of us:
… The point being that you’ll want your full attention for the crab, so as not to violate the third Crab Commandment. That being said, the actual cooking bit is relatively easy. (Side note: Since we’re having potatoes, I went for our sour cream, only to discover it was no longer sour cream, to be precise, but something… blue.)
To sauté: Get the pan nice and hot; sprinkle crabs with salt and pepper to taste; sprinkle some flour onto the large plate and coat the crabs well; and sauté in the pan with a little oil/butter/substitute until golden brown. Traditional recipes will tell you about 4-6 minutes per side:
According to them thar recipes, you should get ‘em good and red, and firm. To roast/broil, preheat the broiler or set the oven to 500 ̊, brush the crabs on each side with melted butter, and sprinkle with salt & pepper (not so much with the flour for this one), and cook without turning for about 10 minutes (according to The Joy of Cooking, hereafter, TJoC).
We’ll sauté, since it’s more fun to photograph. Here we go:
Your crabs are ready to go! They’ve been sprinkled and floured and your butter, etc., is melting in the frying pan. Let’s pop those babies on!
This part is pretty much your basic eye-it-as-it-goes. After 3-4 minutes on the first side, we flip them. After 4 minutes on the second side, we remove them from the pan, and straight to the plates, where the potatoes, they will freely admit, were starting to feel lonely. Now let’s see how this all came together…
As you can see, the claws turned red almost instantly! To keep the crab from sticking to the pan, but still keep the pan hot enough, I added small dabs of “butter” as we went along, tossing the crab about like a pancake. This worked well, and I still ended up with a minimal amount of oily product.I had NO idea how to eat soft shell crab. Google revealed that I was in good company. Apparently, you’re supposed to eat the WHOLE THING. ... Which will look approximately like this:
Here are the Discoveries I had upon eating:
1) WHY DID I NOT FOLLOW MY LOBSTER RULE?! Said rule: This thing just came from salt water, so it doesn’t need added salt. WHY? WHYYYY??? I added just a bit of salt, and lo, the crab was waaaay too salty. This was relatively easily remedied by peeling off the body shell, but I would have liked the whole “whole crab” experience.
2) … Or maybe I wouldn’t have liked that. I found crunching on the shells to be reminiscent of, well, descriptions of cannibalism in various novels. And don’t get me started on eating that bluish-green part in the middle.
3) The cleanup for this meal is going to be really, really easy.
In short, this was a fun experiment, but I think I’ll stick to steaming fully grown and shell-hardened blue crabs in future. Though I’m pretty sure we had at least ONE fan in the house:
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