leek wrote:I would bet that the majority of blue crabs seen here are NOT from U.S. waters.

If you're talking about live crabs, no, I think you're wrong. There's plenty of supply from the gulf coast, and no reason to be flying them in. If you're talking about packaged crab, though, absolutely. Phillips Seafood of Baltimore developed the pasteurization process for canning crabmeat and kickstarted the industry in Southeast Asia (not blue crab, but a similar Asian breed) that now supplies some obscene percentage of the nation's crabmeat market.

Let's just say that you won't find a lot of locals visiting Phillips around here.

(Venezuela is another hotspot for exportation, but not for live, I believe.)

I can attest to the ubiquity of the blue crab in the shallow Gulf waters. Blue crabs are pretty darn easy to harvest by flashlight with some chicken necks, at least around Tampa. Thing is, there was never much of a blue crab culture in FL that I could tell, with the notable minor exceptions of (1) the Tampa devil crab -- a spicy croquette of picked blue crab unique to the area and well-documented by Dom in his Tampa thread and (2) crab enchilado, a Cuban/Sicilian Tampa dish of, essentially, marinara sauce with whole blue crabs served over pasta. Both are poor-man's dishes; the blue crab seems to have been down there with other once low-class, cheap items like rock shrimp and grouper. Can't say I've noticed a huge, Chesapeake-like blue crab following in Louisiana either, except for softshells. Others know better. Maybe I wasn't paying attention.

[quote="JeffB"]I can attest to the ubiquity of the blue crab in the shallow Gulf waters. Blue crabs are pretty darn easy to harvest by flashlight with some chicken necks, at least around Tampa. [quote]

I used to snag the chicken fat from when my cooks cleaned chicken, tie it up and get 3-4 crabs per day in season. Since I was broke, it supplemented my diet quite a bit.

You are bringing back memories.

JeffB wrote:Can't say I've noticed a huge, Chesapeake-like blue crab following in Louisiana either, except for softshells. Others know better. Maybe I wasn't paying attention.

Boiled/steamed crabs are definitely on offer in many Louisiana restaurants and I've had boiled/steamed crabs at family gatherings. However, I think that the crab boil largely take a backseat to the crawfish boil in Louisiana in terms of frequency and in terms of cultural phenomenon. In my family, the most common method of consumption of blue crabs was in gumbo -- boiled or steamed, then picked, with the shells used for the stock and the meat (mostly separated, but sometimes whole claws) in the finished product. There may be more of a crab culture in the coastal Parishes or within certain groups/segments of Louisiana culture, but in my experience it is not an ingrained part of the culture in Louisiana (and certainly is not something that outsiders associate with Louisiana) to the degree it is in the Chesapeake region.

Say, would any one know what kind of crab we would have seen on the beach in Maui a few years back. They were about the same size as the blue / soft shell crabs, but I don't recall the blue coloring. I assume whatever they were, they were probably tasty

Matt wrote:Boiled/steamed crabs are definitely on offer in many Louisiana restaurants and I've had boiled/steamed crabs at family gatherings. However, I think that the crab boil largely take a backseat to the crawfish boil in Louisiana in terms of frequency and in terms of cultural phenomenon. In my family, the most common method of consumption of blue crabs was in gumbo -- boiled or steamed, then picked, with the shells used for the stock and the meat (mostly separated, but sometimes whole claws) in the finished product. There may be more of a crab culture in the coastal Parishes or within certain groups/segments of Louisiana culture, but in my experience it is not an ingrained part of the culture in Louisiana (and certainly is not something that outsiders associate with Louisiana) to the degree it is in the Chesapeake region.

In SW Louisiana (Abbeville, Lafayette, etc.), I have seen blue crabs used as a seasoning for gumbos and the like. I have not seen them served whole very often.

In the Northern Neck of Virginia (Kilmarnock, Deltaville, Lancaster), they were served steamed, generally WITHOUT any presence of Old Bay Seasoning (which was generally used only for french fries and occasionally for shrimp) and with butter. And generally served on newspapers spread over the kitchen table.

$10.99/lb @ Hmart Naperville, came in at $27 for this tasty female. Tons of roe, lots of flavor, and fightin mad.



a group pic with his buddy from the tank next to him was just as pissed, and just as tasty... $10.99/lb. as well:



im a big fan of Naperville Hmart, the produce, the pork, the spices, and especially the live seafood.

jimswside wrote: a group pic with his buddy from the tank next to him was just as pissed, and just as tasty...

Jim, looks terrific, but a little hint. They are easier to eat, and easier on your teeth, if you take em out of the shell before taking a bite.

King crab is everywhere at the moment, I was surprised the gas station didn't have a few legs as end-cap to the Cheetos and smokes. Not wanting to go all out, but not being able to resist, I picked up a King crab leg at Costco and made a very tasty Crab Louie salad.

Crab Louie Salad, ducks in a row



Assembled



Dressed with a side of grilled bread



Enjoy,
Gary

mercy.... that crab louie looks incredible.

Once in a while you can find whole king crab live in Chinatown but very very pricey!
Yesterday at H-Mart in Niles the Dungies and lobster were both trading at $9.99/#. They had some lobster culls for $7.99/#. That's a rise in the lobster price but I expect that to come back down after New Years Day.
China Mart in Chinatown always has some 4-6 # lobster's on hand but you have to ask for them as the tank they are in is not visible for shoppers. That's where I get my big lobsters. Usually H-Mart is in the 1# range.
In any event some very tasty eating.-Dick

Dungeness crab and avocado salad with a light coating of a yogurt dressing(yougurt,lemon juice, shallot, grated onion, white wine vinegar, garlic):

Really nice, light and fresh appetizer:



also used some Jewel bought snow crab legs for a dish. Steamed the legs then tossed them in the wok with some bok choy,green onion, garlic, and dark soy sauce. Also good:

grabbed this bad boy at the market in the Chinatown mall, steamed up nice & made a nice topping for an asparagus dish(prosciutto wrapped asparagus, fresh mozz, topped with lump and hollandaise).

Jim, that looks great! What was the cost?

LikestoEatout wrote:Jim, that looks great! What was the cost?

the dungeness was $6.99/lb. if I remember correctly. That one was almot 3 lbs., the guy was nice enough to fish down at the bottom of the tank where the big ones were lurking.

H Mart in Niles has live Dungeness for $8.99/#.
Best Dungeness i have had in years!
We had an order earlier this year from E-Fish.
The crabs while extremely fresh were not as tasty as the ones we just got from H-Mart.
We steamed four yesterday, ate two and will pick and freeze two today..
One is being marinated Korean style.
I know why Blue Crabs are preferred for marination as the
dungees are very hard to separate the shell!!!
Problem is we don’t get the large Blue
crabs here in Chicago and the small ones are a bitch to pick!
Make sure you get the biggest ones you can st H Mart as they seem to have a range of sizes.