5-28-09

When you think of crabs, do you think Red Lobster?

Have I ever mentioned that I am originally from southern Maryland? Oh, that’s right. About a million times.
Yes, I am proud to be a Maryland boy. Born and raised, I bleed yellow and black. I actually know my state flower and bird; Black-Eyed-Susan and the Baltimore Oriole. Go O’s.
Now, before I get a horde of neighbors outside of my front door holding pitchforks and torches, let me say that I do love my new home in N.C.
If it wasn’t for the fact that Maryland houses the Chesapeake Bay, I wouldn’t be so married to my home state. You might ask, “What is it about Maryland and The Bay that keep you talking about it and boring us to death about it?”
Maryland blue crabs.
That’s it.
Crabs.
If you haven’t sat around a newspaper-covered picnic table on the Fourth of July with a bowl of drawn butter, Old Bay, a pile of steaming Silver Queen corn and your favorite beverage in a can or bottle, then you haven’t had the TRUE blue crab experience.
When I talk to others about eating crabs, they tell me, “ I love crabs. I could eat crab legs at Red Lobster all night long.”
I get a quick shiver down my spine and find myself trying to explain the difference between “eating crabs” and eating crab legs at Red Lobster.
Have you ever eaten a really tough and fatty piece of steak? Have you ever savored a perfectly cooked filet mignon?
Yes, they are that good.
Growing up in the Del-Mar-Va area, you grow up eating crabs. It is just a way of life.
As a child you sit at the “kid’s table” and eat the legs that the adults don’t want, corn drenched in butter and black pepper, make little sculptures with all of the discarded crab shells and make “potions” with all the different types of sauces, liquids and any other ingredient to make a stomach-turning concoction.
As you get older, you are allowed to take on a crab all by yourself. This only happens under the close watchful eye of an adult and experienced peeler. Usually a family member directs you down the path of proper crab peeling techniques.
Nothing is wasted and every part of the succulent bottom feeder is cracked open and mined of its tender meat.
In North Carolina, you have pig pickin’s. In Del-Mar-Va, we have crab feasts. They are so very similar in their order of operations and boyh strive toward the same goal.
Start preparing early, at least a week or two in advance. An order for the main course is called in and reserved. Friends and family are invited and the calendar is marked.
During the day of the event, there is usually a small group that just can’t wait. These are the ones that get together early to start preparing. They set up tables and chairs, pre-heat the grills and find the perfect spot for the horseshoe pit.
As family arrive, some gather around the grill and there are usually a handful of “pros” that instruct you and let you in on their “secret, award-winning, best way” to cook the pig or crabs.
It’s all part of the fun.
This is where the two events take different paths.
When the pig is done people line up, dress their plate and get a serving or two of their favorite cut of pork. The meal is finished, some dessert is ingested and then we push away from the table to make room for our stuffed bellies.
A crab feast, on the other hand goes a little like this.
Everyone gets a comfortable seat around the newspaper-covered table. The cook dumps a large stock pot full of steaming crabs into the middle of the table and those in front of the pile pass out crabs to the left and right of them.
A hush usually falls upon the table and is followed a few minutes later by a round of “oh-man” and “Mmmmmm” as the first taste of backfin meat graces the crowd’s mouths.
This process is repeated for about four hours. I am not kidding. Three to four hours is an average length of time set aside to eat crabs. I’m not talking about cooking and then visiting afterwords. I mean just eating.
It is very important to keep your cooler next to your seat, a personal roll of paper towels in front of you and try to position yourself at the table so that it is difficult for you to get up. This is a strategy I employ to keep everyone from asking me to get them this or that.
This is why it is so important to be around good friends and family, have plenty of time on hand and have activities for the youngsters to do so that the adults can enjoy the feast to it’s fullest.
I am not knocking the pig pickin’ at all. I enjoy attending and cooking all the same. I just love my blue crab tradition. When summertime comes around, I tend to think about nothing else but crabs until I finally get to a table of ‘em piled high. I don’t even care if I have to sit at the “kids table.” I’m just ready for crabs.
Bryan Pinkey can be found pacing the docks impatiently waiting for the crab boats or at bpinkey@nccox.com.