Blue Crabs | Part 2- Cleaning/Steaming

Blue Crabs | Part 2- Cleaning/Steaming

Alright your ready for more, Blue Crabs | Part 2- Cleaning/Steaming! In February I told you all about my grand adventure fishing for blue crabs. Once I returned home to Missouri I quickly realized I only left you with half the story!!! So when I returned to Punta Gorda Florida in March I just had to finish the story!!! As soon as we collect the crabs with the boat we headed back to Wayne and Deloris’s house.

The first step was to place the crabs into the cooler with water and ice. The ice chills down the crabs so they can’t pinch you. Trust me this is an important step! Those claws are sharp and man oh man do they have a tight grip!

In above image I have flipped over two crabs. The top one has red pinchers (usually a good indication its a female), but the true tell is on the bottom of the shell. The top crab is a female, bottom is a male.

After the crabs are nice and chilled, and slow moving. Wayne is in charge of breaking off the top shell (Head area), and then flipping them over and scarping out the genitals. Then my mom, Lisa, washes off the crab and hands it to Deloris. Mrs. Deloris is in charge of taking out the lungs and guts. The crabs are then re-rinsed off and then placed in the pot.

Cooking Time!

If the crabs are not being cooked right away the are put into freezer bags, labeled with the date and frozen. Before the crabs are steamed they are seasoned. The crabs are then steamed using a mixture of water and vinegar. There are many different ways you can do this.

Fun Fact:

When you boil Blue crabs they turn Red. This change in color is during cooking has to do with the way biochemicals inside the shells react to heat

Dinner time!!

Another big shout out to Wayne and Bob for taking me out fishing, and then Wayne and Deloris the for amazing dinner!

P.S. If you couldn’t tell from the images Wayne has grown to love the fame of modeling lol