Crabfest – or a #geocrab tweetup

This gorgeous "geocrab" was created in PhotoShop by Bill Dollins - thanks for letting me use it my friend!

If Maryland is known for anything then it must be the blue crabs. Nothing says summer on the East coast like a table covered by butcher paper loaded down with fresh crabs steamed with Old Bay. For this particular crabfest we relied upon Bill Dollins @geobabbler to make the restaurant choice.

Having lived on the west coast I have also had access to Dungeness crabs and snow crabs but to this east coast girl, nothing beats a big pile of Chesapeake’s finest. I find the lump backfin to be sweeter than any other crab I’ve had though Florida Stone Crab claws are a close second.

I grew up in Philly so I have had plenty of crab shack experience but my fiancé had never before malleted a blue crab or dug his fingers into the sweet flesh until they were coated with Old Bay seasoning. I told Bill that I was looking for the true crab shack experience – a dive with butcher paper, fresh crabs and cold beer. Bill really delivered on this on, selecting Captain Billy’s crab shack on the Potomac in western Maryland. We were not disappointed. The crabs were a perfect size – not too big or too small, came on a plastic platter and were served with a mallet and an oyster knife. PERFECT!

Bill also gave crab picking 101 lessons to my fiancé so that he could quickly get at the good stuff. He caught on fast under Bill’s practiced tutelage. The instructions started with yanking off the legs and claws and then using what I call the handy pull-tab on the underside of the crab. Pulling on the tab opens up the belly and allows you to just pull the top shell right off.

Next you clean out the “fingers” and the gook you don’t want to eat, snap the remaining carapace in half and dig into the sweet meat – no mallets or knives required! You can then eat the claws or as Bill did, save them all for last. A quick tap with the mallet is usually sufficient to open the claws so you can simply pop out the claw meat in one big piece.

Don’t bother wiping your fingers between crabs since they will only get really messy with the next one – and no one can eat just one. I think we all enjoyed the crabs and I know my honey enjoyed the lessons.

I think we will all be back from crabs next summer, cause it isn't really summer until you've had fresh crab, corn on the cob, tomatoes, watermelon and steamed clams. I'm hungry for them again already!