It’s a common sight this time of year: a newspaper or brown paper “tablecloth,” a time-worn pile of wooden mallets and knives, a bottle of apple cider vinegar, a jar of Old Bay (or J.O. Scroll down), melted butter and plenty of paper towels.
It’s a common sight this time of year: a newspaper or brown paper “tablecloth,” a time-worn pile of wooden mallets and knives, a bottle of apple cider vinegar, a jar of Old Bay (or J.O. Scroll down), melted butter and plenty of paper towels.As the bright red steamed and seasoned crabs are dumped onto the center of the table, everyone chooses their weapons and gets to work. At first it is quiet, as everyone concentrates on getting those first morsels of sweet crab meat, but then the stories begin. Like many not “from here,” blue crabs were a new experience when I moved to the Northern Neck in 2009.
I say experience because crab pickin’ is just as much about the company you’re eating them with as it is the actual crab. It’s also as much about the skillful picking of the crab meat as it is eating it. As we near the middle of blue crab season—it runs mid-March through November in Virginia—crab pickin’ is the perfect way to spend a warm summer evening with family, friends and a beverage of your choice.
Learn the lingo
When talking about crabs, it’s helpful to know a few terms. First, crabs are commonly referred to as “jimmies” (males) or “sooks” (females). Second, they are broken down by size, typically jumbos, #1s and #2s. So if you ordered a dozen jumbo jimmies, you would be getting the biggest, meatiest crabs.
On the outside of the crab: the top shell; flipping the crab over, you’ll find a small tab called an apron—shaped like the Washington Monument on jimmies and the Washington Capitol on sooks; two large front claws; three walking legs on each side; and two back swimmer legs or fins, also called backfins.
On the inside you’ll find: lump, the large chunks of meat attached to the back fins, prized for their delicate flavor; special, the smaller flakes of body meat; and claw, a darker, more flavorful crab meat than the body, found in the legs.
Roll up your sleeves, it’s going to get messy
If you want to learn how to pick crabs, there’s no better person to talk to than someone known as the “Crab King.” Jimmy Dameron has not only operated Jim Dan Dee wholesale and the Crab King seafood market in Kilmarnock for the past 15 years, he’s also “been eating crabs since I was little.”
I watched Dameron deftly pry, crack and pick at the crab, using only a knife. “I personally don’t like using a mallet. You’re smashing the meat and you can get shell mixed in.” So just how fast can he pick a crab apart? “Depends on how hungry I am,” he said.
As is typical, with crab picking comes stories. As we went through the next few crabs, Dameron told me about his first memories of crabbing on Penny Creek at the age of two and falling overboard, the high jinks of high schoolers and eating crabs for breakfast.
Amongst those stories he also gave me a lesson or two about how he likes to pick crab. You see, there is no such thing as “the” way to pick crabs. Everyone develops a method and, of course, everyone thinks theirs is the best for a number of reasons. They will tell you.
Pickin’ the Crab King way
Step 1: Pop the top. “A lot of times people will pull off the claws and legs. I like to keep them on.” Insert the tip of the knife at the back between the backfins and pry off the top.
Step 2: Clean out. Use the knife tip to break off the shell and parts at the mouth, peel off the lungs/gills (also referred to as dead man’s fingers, but they’re not deadly, just unpleasant to eat), and scoop out the innards in the center section. At this point you may come across a yellow substance referred to as mustard. Contrary to popular belief it is not fat but remnants of the crab’s hepatopancreas, which filters impurities from the blood. Some consider it a delicacy, giving the crab meat extra flavor. Others say you should not eat it since water contaminants would concentrate there.
Step 3: Pull the tab and break in half: On the crab’s underside, pull the tab-like apron off. The crab should then break easily by hand into two pieces along the ridge on the abdomen. You can also line the knife edge along the ridge and give it a whack to break it into halves.
Step 4: Pull off the claw: grab and twist near the joint to remove the claw. First, you should have a nice bit of meat in the end. Next, place the knife edge just behind the pincers and give it a light whack your palm. Not enough to cut through the whole claw, but just enough to crack the shell. It helps if you give the knife a little twist once you hit it. When you pull it apart you’ll have a nice chunk of claw meat. Just mind the thin cartilage that runs through it. Repeat the “whack and twist” process on the other part of the leg. An alternative here would be to use a mallet or mallet and knife to break the claws instead.
Step 5: Start with the back fin: Gently squeeze the body to break the thin cartilage walls between each leg. Using your fingers, pry off the shell that covers the back swimmer fin meat. Grab the back fin and gently twist off. This is the lump meat. Clean out any remaining flakes from that cell or partition.
Step 6: The rest of the legs: You’re now down to three legs on the remaining half, each with their own smaller partition just like the back fin. Pry off the remaining bottom shell, grab each leg and gently twist. Once you have removed the legs, you can gently squeeze the shell to remove any meat you may have missed.
Step 7: While not everyone bothers, the smaller legs do have some meat in them. The shell is thin enough that you can crack the leg open and remove the ––meat.
Step 8: Step back and admire the carnage.
You see, there is no such thing as “the” way to pick crabs. Everyone develops a method and, of course, everyone thinks theirs is the best for a number of reasons.
They will tell you.
More choices
While most are of the type to eat as they pick, there are those with tremendous willpower that like to carefully clean and pile up the crab meat before diving in. I am not one of those. There’s also the dipping sauces—classic melted butter, but you can also use cocktail sauce or blend Old Bay or J.O. with some apple cider vinegar.
Then there are the sides. You may see corn on the cob, cucumber salad or tomato slices served along with the crabs. My husband’s family from Southern Maryland often serves saltine crackers, but the crabs remain the star of the show.
You see, what happens when “having crabs” around here is often personal; traditions handed down each generation. Perhaps that is why people feel so strongly about “the right way” to eat steamed crabs. So if you’re new to this and confused or perhaps intimidated, don’t be. You’re among friends and family and there’s always someone at the table willing to help.
Old Bay Seasoning vs. J.O. Spice
Just as everyone has “the” preferred method of picking crabs, sides have also been chosen on “the” best seasoning for those freshly steamed crabs. The two contenders, both created on the shores of the Chesapeake Bay: Old Bay and J.O.
Old Bay Seasoning
Old Bay Seasoning began in 1939 as Baltimore Spice Company by Gustav Brunn, who
arrived in the U.S. with not much more than a spice grinder from his wholesale spice business in Germany. The seafood seasoning was later renamed Old Bay after the Old Bay passenger ship line that traveled the Chesapeake between Baltimore and Norfolk in the early 1900s. According to the McCormick website, which now owns the brand, the seasoning contains celery salt, paprika and a proprietary blend of 18 spices including red pepper and black pepper. Alhough McCormick continues to keep the exact recipe under wraps, it doesn’t stop people from asking about specific ingredients, often due to a stated food allergy. Under the Q&A for the brand, McCormick has acknowledged the blend contains bay leaves, ginger, rosemary, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom and mace. The remaining spices and amounts…that continues to be their secret.
J.O. Spice
The J.O. Spice Company was established by James Ozzle Strigle and his wife Dot in 1945. Originally from the watermen community of Tangier Island, J.O. decided to sell his own blend of seafood seasoning that had been handed down for generations. J.O. was successful marketing the product with the wholesale, restaurant and crab house businesses. Chances are, if you’ve ordered seasoned, steamed crabs, they’ve used J.O. Spice—the Crab King uses it on his steamed crabs. This is a proprietary blend of spices and coarse salt, which they say is perfect to adhere to the shell of steamed crabs. Though J.O. Strigle passed away in 1974, it remains a family business to this day, operating just outside of Baltimore in Halethorpe, Maryland.
