Mmmmmmmmm! I LOVE THIS TIME OF YEAR. Here's Dinner

[FairWeather]

Here's what was cooking at my house....







AWESOME!

Matt

[bluewater]

Go ahead and rub it in Matt. You lucky @#$% !! I love soft crabs soooooo muchhhhhhh!!!

[FairWeather]

I picked these up at Tarheel Produce up on the Currituck Mainland...

They were $18 / Dozen for Primes & $26 / Dozen for Jumbos.

I prefer my softshells small, so you can't beat the price at $18. He also told me that if you call ahead they will clean them for you. Well my wife and I didn't call ahead so we had to clean them...

Weird when after you clean them they are still kicking!! Oh well

Matt

[vettnman]

How do you clean these. I love deviled crab and I'm pretty sure that I would love to eat crab prepared anyway you could fix it. Could you throw out the recipe and what you do when you buy these crabs? They sell them by the bushel here.

[FairWeather]

David,

I'm not sure if you are thinking of the same thing because I don't know any places taht sell them by the bushel, but I could be wrong...

Typically you buy them buy the dozen and they range anywhere from $1.50 - $2.50 depending upon where you buy them.

The cleaning process can be kind of a pain in the but as when you buy them fresh they are typically alive. So here's what you have to do.

1. Remove the Face of the Crab - Either with a knife or kitchen sissors. Remember they are alive, so they are not real happy when you do this...
2. Remove the Lungs (Dead Mans Fingers as some call them.) To do this grab the point of the crab on one side and pull up. Under there you will see things that kind of look like fingers, remove them.
3. Flip the crab over and remove the apron. If it's a male crab it will look like a long point, if it's a female it will be a round almost half cicle.
4. Wash crab with water & you are then ready to bread them how you want.

I was telling me wife while we were cleaning the crabs that it's weird, I have no problem gaffing a fish, but for some reason I feel weird when cleaning the crabs..

The breading I use is.

50% flour & 50% House Autry Seafood Breader & salt and pepper.

Bread them well, and throw them in the fryer!

Matt

[vettnman]

I'm not sure if they actually sell them by the bushel, but a local seafood place"tarheel seafood" gets them in these long brown boxes. They're still alive and moving around a little. It's like a dinner bell going off when they get these in. People bring their bushel baskets, laundry baskets, and whatever else they can get their hands on and will fill up a bushel basket and take them home and clean them. I personally love to eat deviled crab and the like, but have never eaten crab the way you prepared yours. It looks pretty good like that. Here's a dumb question. How do you remove the face and lungs without getting pinched??Second, if anyone on here cleans a crab in the near future, maybe show a before and after pic so I can see what was removed? It looks pretty good Matt, but I have a feeling that this will be another one of those seafood dinners that I will eat and enjoy that my wife will turn her nose up at. She grew up on eating trout and flounder so anything else out of the ocean is looked at the same way she would look at an earthworm!! That's okay ... More oysters, shrimp,tuna, and maybe crabs one day for me!!!

[vettnman]

BTW, nice deepfryer on the countertop there. I need one of those. Where did you find that one? Thx

[FairWeather]

David,

You don't have to worry about getting pinched as yes they have claws, but have no shell so there claws are soft and pack no punch..

Fryer was a purchase at Walmart a few years ago.

One other thing, if you ever order softshells while you are out to dinner, make sure they are fresh. As if they are not fresh and they were not frozen right, they can taste fishy.

My suggestion would be to take you wife out to dinner sometime soon to a seafood place and they should have them!!

Matt

[A.L. Head]

I heard that Jenny had to clean those crabs for you is that right?? LOL.

[FairWeather]

Originally Posted by A.L. Head

I heard that Jenny had to clean those crabs for you is that right?? LOL.

Ha Ha your funny!