Day at the Rivah: blue crabs

When your sister comes to visit you, you have two choices around here: 1. show her around a very old, beautiful, and history-laden Richmond, or 2. do what Richmonders do and go "to the rivah."  I like to be authentic about things, so I went with choice two and immediately put her to good use.  Here is a nice, easy way to cook up delicous blue crabs.

Step one:  tough it out through a shopping experience at Walmart, even though it goes against all of your principles to go there the first week of the month (woohoooooo child support AND welfare!) and obtain official looking nets with small holes and multiple packages of turkey necks.  You will also need cotton twine, scissors or a knife (for cutting the twine), a large flower pot, coolers, ice, Old Bay, corn, and whatever other veggies you feel like boiling with the crabs.

Step two:  drive around for 30 extra minutes until you find the crabbing spot that you went to once a year ago and didn't bother to mark on a map.

Step three:  put on your gear so that the locals will be intimidated by your obvious outdoorsiness.

Step four:  Tie your turkey necks to about 10-15 feet of twine, cast them out, pull them in slowly, and net the attached crabs.  Put the crabs in the flower pot.  Sometimes it is easier to have a designated netter.

Wade or perch, pick your technique.

Everytime we caught a crab, Emma would exclaim, "Delicious!"

They call us blue crabs because we are sad that we are about to be eaten.

Step five:  Throw the crabs in a cooler with ice and get them back to the kitchen.

Step six:  Locate the world's largest cooking pot.

When you are done playing Pot Monster, fill it with water about half-two thirds of the way, and dump in large amounts of Old Bay - I use 9-12 oz.

Bring the water to a boil.  When the water is at a steady boil, put in about 12-18 crabs at a time and boil in batches.  They will float to the top and turn bright red...when this happens, boil for about 1-2 more minutes, and then they are ready.  The pot to ready process is anywhere from 8-15 minutes per batch.

Don't I have awesome wallpaper?  I'd like to thank the 85 yr old who built/owned my house before me.

As your crabs cool, throw some sweet corn or whatever other veggies you want into the pot to cook.

Cooling crabs - they lived a full life.

Step seven:  Dump everything on to an outdoor newspaper covered table.  Present the feast to your guests with a dramatic pose.

Enjoy the feast and be prepared for your house to smell like Old Bay for 60-90 days.

I ate 3 crabs, half an ear of corn, and a dinner roll while folks were distracted. - The General