The beautiful blue crab
Just in case summer ever comes, after this bizarrely chilly spring!—boy, am I ready.
In fact, I’ve been ready every June, since time immemorial…because, without doubt, my favorite gastronomic thing to do in summer is sit around a table piled high with cooked whole crabs…sucking on an electric bottle of dry Riesling! If you can work an exterior setting in there, and a setting sun…by George, is the livin’ easy.
Ah…but what kind of crabs? Cooked how?
Firstly…I’ve gotten my share of crabs all over the world (does that sound wrong?). And there are so many I love. But, luckily for me, my favorite crab of all is the “beautiful swimmer” that’s based in Chesapeake Bay, Maryland, the notorious East Coast “blue crab”…that also swims down to Florida, and around the corner into the Gulf of Mexico.
Why do I love it so? Yes, as the detractors say, getting at the meat of a blue crab (both in claws and body) takes work; a Dungeness is much easier to “deconstruct.” However, for me, the blue crab reward is much greater: sweet, fatty meat, often bathed in the most sublime tomalley…the juiciest crab bite on earth.
Now, there are also questions regarding the cooking and serving. Without doubt, the most famous whole-crab cookin’ in America takes place in Baltimore, and all around the Chesapeake Bay, where live crabs are showered with crab spice (like Old Bay), then steamed until cooked. They are served immediately on big sheets of brown paper: let the cracking begin. The Louisiana tradition is related…hot crabs, hot spice…except these bad boys are boiled.
I’ve done my share of hot crabs in Baltimore and Louisiana…hot spice, hot temperature. I love ’em! But I may love even better the way my Dad used to treat whole, living blue crabs. Definitely the New York, even the Northeast way. He’d not season them with anything, then boil ’em up (in a carefully controlled way), chill ’em, and serve them later on. How much later? At least as late as the next day…but the secret was, the cold crabs were even better after 2 or 3 days! Everything inside the crab gels…the tomalley, the roe, the crabby flavors. Amazing with light, dry Riesling, among other things.
WHOLE COLD CRABS, NORTHEASTERN-STYLE
Appetizer for 6
24 kickin’-live blue crabs (preferably large, preferably females, preferably from Maryland)
salt
1. Bring a very large cauldron of water to the boil. Salt rather heavily (you should be able to taste the salt in the water).
2. Add the live crabs to the water. Cover immediately. Let boil for 1 minute.
3. Remove lid. Reduce heat so that the water is just simmering. Cook crabs for 12 minutes more (a little less time for smaller crabs).
4. Remove crabs from hot water, place on a platter, and hold overnight (or longer) in refrigerator. Serve cold within the next few days.
I was reminded of all this summertime glory just a few weeks ago, as we held a photo shoot for my upcoming promotion of a great, bone-dry crab wine I’m importing, the 2011 Vom Kalksteinfels Riesling, Philipp Kuhn, from the Pfalz in Germany.
The crisp acid of the Riesling cuts through the crabby richness like nobody’s business…adding, along the way, a stony-minerally dimension to the funky crab flavor.
I’m sure having a good time, as you can see! And so should you…
The 2011 Vom Kalksteinfels Riesling, Philipp Kuhn can be ordered from our shop.
Photos courtesy of Troy Amber, TLAstudio.com
