Blue Crab Recipes

Steamed crabs are one of the royal treats at the Delaware Maryland beach. Follow this recipe for a steamed crab dinner for four.

• 2 dozen live, hard shell blue crabs
  
• 3 cups vinegar
  
• 3 cups water or beer
  
• 1 cup Old Bay or other seafood seasoning
  
• Use a steamer or a large pot with a rack and a tight-fitting lid.
  
• Pour vinegar and water or beer into steamer and bring to a boil.
  
• Add crabs, a few at a time, and sprinkle each layer with seasoning.
  
• Steam 25 to 30 minutes.

Follow this recipe for a boiled crab dinner for four. For a different flavor, add celery ribs and lemon slices to the boiling water.

• 2 dozen live, hard shell blue crabs
• 1/3 cup salt
• Place crabs in boiling water and cover and return to boiling point.
• Simmer 15 minutes.
• Drain and serve hot or cold.

• 10 crabs (cleaned alive top shell removed and insides rinsed out)
  
• Place 10 cleaned crabs in baking pan 10" x 18" x 2" (lasagna tray)
  
• 1 cup water sprinkled atop of crabs
  
• 1 cup white wine sprinkled atop crabs
  
• 1/2 cup olive oil sprinkled atop crabs
  
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil sprinkled atop crabs
  
• 1 tablespoon Garlic powder sprinkled atop crabs
  
• 1 tablespoon Oregano sprinkled atop crabs
  
• 1 teaspoon Crushed Red pepper sprinkled atop crabs
  
• 1/2 teaspoon salt sprinkled atop crabs
  
• 1/4 teaspoon basil sprinkled atop crabs
  
• Cover with Tin Foil
  
• Bake in oven 375 degrees for 35 minutes (remove tin foil with five minutes cooking time remaining)
  
• 1 loaf Italian bread
  
• 6 pack of beer
  
• Heaven has arrived

*Thanks to the anonymous sender for this recipe.

A note from the Webmaster:

Uncle Merrill's Dip comes from my wife's late Uncle Merrill, for whom crabbing was a religion at his home in Southern Maryland on Breton Bay off the Potomac River.

Whenever we eat steamed crabs, we wind up scurrying around the kitchen for the right ingredients to make this sort of liquid salad:

• Vinegar, preferably white, but cider will do
  
  
• Sliced tomatoes, cucumbers and onions
  
  
• Black pepper
  
  

Pour the vinegar into a shallow, wide bowl. Plop in the tomatoes, cucumbers and onions and shake plenty of the black pepper over the whole mess.

When you open your crabs, dunk them in and let them soak while you pick your next crab. Then, after you've dunked that crab, you're ready to eat the crab that's been soaking in the dip.

A NOTE -- When you dunk your crabs in the bowl, keep an eye out for unscrupulous crab eaters who might try to yank your crab out of the dip in addition to theirs.

Also, when the last crab is plucked from the dip, the real test of character begins.

If you can eat the little flakes of crab that settle to the bottom of the bowl without your entire face puckering up, you may qualify for some kind of honorary Eastern Shore citizenship (you earn extra points for downing a piece of semi-pickled tomato).

1 cup backfin crab 1 cup chopped onion 1 cup mayonnaise 1 cup grated cheddar cheese Mix Together. Heat at 375 degrees till it bubbles Briefly Boil ENJOY!