All of these ideas are great-

I always like the NC version we did on the coast. This is the closest to my mom's recipe I have on hand-

Down East Crab Stew

(fried biscuit dough croutons can replace the white bread listed in the recipe).

Bill Smith's Crab Stew
Courtesy of Bill Smith

Serves a crowd

1/2 pound sidemeat or fatback

2 medium onions, peeled and cut into large dice

2 dozen hard crabs, cleaned and halved

1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

4 bay leaves

1 teaspoon thyme

6 baking-sized potatoes, peeled and cut into eighths

3/4 cups all-purpose corn meal, stirred into two cups of cold water

Salt and pepper to taste

Sliced white bread

Render the sidemeat in a large stock pot. Do this slowly, as it has a low smoking point and you want to extract as much fat as possible before it gets too brown. It will resemble crisp bacon in color when ready. Add the onions and saute until soft but not brown. Add the crabs and cover with cold water. Add the red pepper, bay and thyme. Bring to a boil, then turn back to a simmer. Cook for half an hour, and then add the potatoes. Cook until they are well done, 15 to 20 minutes more. Turn up the heat a little (but you don't want a hard boil) and stir in the cornmeal and water. This will be a little difficult because of the crabs, but you need to mix the slurry in thoroughly. Bring the stew back to a simmer until it begins to thicken. Add salt and pepper to taste.

To serve, put a slice or two of bread in the bottom of large soup bowls and ladle the stew, crabs and all, on top.

Let me count the ways...

Stuffed fried crab shells
Crab stuffed shrimp
Shrimp & crab stuffed broiled flounder
Crab cakes
Crab au gratin
Shrimp, crab & oyster gumbo
Crab stew

I could go on forever...

quote:

Originally posted by Suppressed:
Don't cook the dead ones.

If you don't cook the dead ones, do you eat them raw, like oysters?

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:

quote:

Originally posted by Suppressed:
Don't cook the dead ones.

If you don't cook the dead ones, do you eat them raw, like oysters?

They're alive when they go in the boiling pot

I prefer to steam them right after I pour Old Bay seasoning all over them.

Last time I had crab, it was a just dead huge King Crab at Bob Chinn's crab house, outside Chicago, cooked "Garlic Style". Best I ever had. I had half of an over 9 pound crab. It's the first time, except at a buffet, when I could say I had enough crab.

By the time you read this, I hope you've either cooked them and enjoyed eating them, or be ready to dispose of them. Do not eat a crab that doesn't die in the steam pot.

+1 on the Old Bay recipes. I lived in the Baltimore area for several years and really miss the blue crabs steamed in Old Bay. Get a group of folks together along with some blue crabs, beer and little crab crackin' mallets and you have a great social event. Lots of conversation while shelling your meal. In fact, you probably burn more calories shelling crab meat than you consume. Then, grab a burger on the way home!

Enjoy!

i'll pop off the shell, remove the dead man's fingers and guts - then throw them in a pot of boiling water and Crab Boil (Zataran's is what I use)