Captain Jim's Fat Crab Dock

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Leave no meat behind! Pro Crab Feasting Skills unveiled!

Let’s set the scene. You just unpacked your crab cooler filled with meaty Maryland blue crabs and you know these crabs are full! For one, they’re heavy when picking them up. You can compare the feel to a piece of meat because; well, it is! Two, when you brush away the spice, the shell appears ancient. An old-looking shell means what you think. The crab has worn it for many months and had time to fill it with savory meat. Question: How do you get to every last morsel of meat? You develop your own crab feasting routine, of course! Check out our plan of attack and let us know what you think!

Get that top shell off. Place the crab belly-up (white side) on the table. Locate the apron. On the male, it’s shaped like the Washington Monument and on the female, the Washington Capitol. Pry it up like a beer tab and snap it off. Place a crab knife in the hole, caused by removing the apron. Pop the top shell off with a quick lifting of the shell with the knife.

Clean up the crab. Scrape off the feathery lungs and juicy guts from the exposed crab body. Try to leave some of the mustard looking “fat”, which flavors the meat profoundly.

Savor some delicious, tender meat. Press lightly on the back-swimming legs and pull out the huge jumbo pieces. Break the crab in equal halves lengthwise and with a seafood fork, pick the lump and backfin meat. Finally, with a paring knife snip the legs off the body and snap off the claws. Dig into the “knuckles” with the fork and scrape away the lump. Take a mallet and tap to crack the claw and with the fork, work out the meat. Sometimes, you can just twist the pincers apart and the meat will come out. Lastly, break each leg in half and suck out the meat from each. Yes, not too much meat in the small legs, but you don’t want to leave any meat behind!

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