As promised, here’s Part II of our trip to Maryland. Aside from fishing, during the day and a half we spent there, we ate our fill in Maryland’s pride and joy, the Maryland Blue Crab.
Dean and Dolores who live in Crisfield, MD, live in a house where the back yard opens out into canals which lead to the Chesapeake Bay. So they almost never have to actually purchase the blue crab. Each household is allowed 2 crab pots which they toss into the canal behind their house. Amazing what some chicken wire, a dead fish, and a few hours in the waters of the Chesapeake will get you! It’s like magic – the crabs crawl into the pot and they can’t come out!
Read on for more blue crab adventures, but if you are squeamish, the truth is we do eventually get to eat the crabs. So yes, there might be some non-G rated pictures during the preparation of the crabs.
Here’s Dean pulling the crab pot off the dock. This is not the trap, but his storage pot. He’d been accumulating crabs for us to enjoy when we visited.
[[image:crab1.jpg:Fresh Maryland Blue Crabs:center:0]]
Close up (although the crabs themselves are a bit blurry:
[[image:crab2.jpg:Don’t stick your fingers in there:center:0]]
First, empty the crabs into a container:
[[image:crab3.jpg:Crab overboard!:center:0]]
Here they are, all ornery and scrabbly after Dean sprays the crew with clean water:
[[image:crab4.jpg:Don’t they look crabby?:center:0]]
Then, dump into this next container while being washed again:
[[image:crab5.jpg:More crabs being washed and transferred:center:0]]
Crabs in the second container:
[[image:crab6.jpg:Already looking delicious, methinks:center:0]]
All during this, if Dean found a crab that was too small (he had the measure drawn right into the first container), it went right back in the canal so it would have a chance to grow up and mate, before being caught again for another good meal! And of course, you never eat a dead crab so any that are lethargic looking got thrown back in too. Here’s a nice looking crab:
[[image:crab7.jpg:Expose its underbelly:center:0]]
Here’s where the squeamish must look away because Dean kills the crab quickly and cleanly straight through its heart:
[[image:crab8.jpg:RIP, Mr. Crab:center:0]]
They they get arranged in the crab pot layer by layer:
[[image:crab9.jpg:Almost time to eat crab!:center:0]]
These are the seasonings used by Dean. Note the Old Bay, a favorite up and down the east coast to flavor seafood:
[[image:crab10.jpg:Salt and Old Bay:center:0]]
Crabs are getting up to the brim of the big pot. Any extras were thrown back in to the canal, happy to dodge destiny for this time.
[[image:crab11.jpg:Look how full this pot is!:center:0]]
Here’s Vin and Dean by the crab pot:
[[image:crab12.jpg:Crabs are cooking!:center:0]]
Vin all happy by the cooked crabs:
[[image:crab13.jpg:Mmmmmmm…craaaab:center:0]]
For a bit of perspective, Vin’s hand next to the crabs:
[[image:crab14.jpg:Hand’s itching to grab one and chow down:center:0]]
Can you believe how many of those critters we have to eat?
[[image:crab15.jpg:Peek-a-boo!:center:0]]
They’re a little freaky looking close up:
[[image:crab16.jpg:Attack of the killer giant crabs!:center:0]]
Here’s my pile of shells after i bellied up hammering those things open, splashing my glasses with crab juice:
[[image:crab17.jpg:I ate all those crabs:center:0]]
And Vin’s pile of shells:
[[image:crab18.jpg:Vin ate all these crabs:center:0]]
The Maryland blue crab is more than just a delicacy, it is also one of the creatures that are in danger due to loss of habitat. Dean is a long-time waterman and very concerned about conservation and doing his part to make sure that the crabs along with the rest of the Chesapeake Bay flora and fauna live on.
