Blue Crab on the Pit

Raack66 · Post by **Raack66** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 2:17 pm

Pretty simple, really good
Clean the crabs - pull the tops off, take out the lungs and rinse with water hose.
Put a chunk of butter in the cavity that is in the middle of the body.
Sprinkle on some cajun seasoning, some of that california blend garlic saesoning and some cayenne pepper ( be careful there )
Place crabs on hot grill for 12 - 15 min. with the bottom down. do not turn.
Take off and enjoy with plenty of napkins.
You'll never boil crabs again.

Boatright · Post by **Boatright** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 2:20 pm

How many crabs do you usually make when you do this? Sounds delish!

Raack66 · Post by **Raack66** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 2:37 pm

I have a weber grill that I do this on. We usually cook up three or four dozen. Can get about 12 to 15 crabs at a time on the grill. By the time we are don eating the first batch the second one is done and so on. Best when eatin hot, so don't cook some and wait to eat them.

Bassbug · Post by **Bassbug** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 3:16 pm

grocery store, or do you catch your own?

Raack66 · Post by **Raack66** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 3:22 pm

We usaully catch them and cook them that day or the next. I have froze them though. The ones at the store would probally work, but I can never find the whole crab they usually sell them in pieces. pieces will not work that good. Butter will end up on the coals. By the way better with real butter.

Lou Dog · Post by **Lou Dog** » Fri Mar 24, 2006 7:11 pm

By the way better with real butter.

Definitely....everything's better with real butter, I can't stand margarine!
Recipe sounds great, will have to try it some time.

Maulwalker · Post by **Maulwalker** » Sun Apr 16, 2006 8:00 pm

Sounds interesting, but I've never cooked blue crabs, so I'm not certain that I'll clean them correctly. If you could, please post some pics of the process next time you cook them.

Gone Yakin · Post by **Gone Yakin** » Fri Apr 21, 2006 10:46 pm

I think I would freak out if I opened a crab and it had lungs

Maulwalker · Post by **Maulwalker** » Tue May 09, 2006 6:53 pm

My wife and I went crabbing Sunday and tried your recipe. It was great. Thanks for the tip.

this side up · Post by **this side up** » Wed May 10, 2006 6:49 am

Maulwalker,
Crab cleaning 101:
1) The crabs really object to the process, so either be very careful or dip them in boiling water....knocks 'em right out.

2) Works pretty good to palm him with his claws away from you, points going up and down.

3) put your thumbs in the space between the legs and point.

4) open him up by rolling your wrist outward (hopefully your thumbs will follow)

5) the top, you don't need unless you plan on doing some stuffed crabs

6) all the goodie is in the bottom

7) you will see gunk, white squiggly stuff, little feathery tangerine slicey things (gills)....you don't want to eat any of that......tear it off, wash it out, whatever...but the gills are chunk full of trace metals you don't want to eat....out and away

what you got now has all the meat enclosed in small chambers within the crab body....butter goes in middle, everything goes on the grill

9) cook

10) now the good part...start with satisfying swig of cold beverage...mmmm, good.

The muscles (aka crabmeat) are seperated in the body in small pockets that are completely surrounded by thin walls of chitean (crunchy, white stuff), related to fingernails in humans. You gotta get in there to get the meat. Fingenails, table knifes, crab forks are all legal, kosher, and equally ineffective in getting it all out without some chitean coming along for the ride...no biggee.....eat, drink, joke......repeat.

With some practice, you can get pretty good at it......remember, cracking and eating your first pecan.....not too pretty, huh. But you get better.

The short hind legs on the blue point crab control the swimming and have the largest muscle group. Treat these areas carefully and you can get some good size chunks of crabmeat. Next are the smaller chambers for each walking leg, then the claws.

Crack the claws with some nut crackers or pliers or the bottom of beer bottle (hey, fish camps are primitive). Develop some finess and you can get the muscle out intact (crabfingers). Don't forget, the joint between the body and the claw....good stuff in there.

Bigger bodied crabs have much more meat per EEU (Extraction Energy Unit).. you can work yourself to death with a sack of small crabs.....this is another instance of where bigger is much better. Usually 6-8 big ones (I would class 9" pt to pt as big these days ) will render the most ardent crab cracker stupified and give him a case of tender thumbs the next day. Enjoy.

Before the bays were dotted with crab traps, it was not uncommon for a skinny kid with a chicken neck, some string, and dip net to get a dozen easily that would classify as monsters today. The continual harvesting just doesn't allow most crabs to really mature and develop the heavier bodies. A kayak can get you into areas where a commercial crabber won't go. Good hunting.

Barnacle Bill · Post by **Barnacle Bill** » Wed May 10, 2006 8:45 am

Throw some clams on the grill with those crabs. When the clams open, sprinkle them with a sweet, white wine. They only take a couple of minutes so do them at the end. Crabs and clams on the pit. There ain't much better than that!

Raack66 · Post by **Raack66** » Wed May 10, 2006 9:52 am

Maulwalker glad you liked it. The only thing that I do different in the cleaning process is instead of boiling them before I clean them I cover them with ice. After about 30 min. they are out. I also use a scewdriver to open instead of my thumbs. ( They get sore after cleaning a couple of dozen )

Where did you go and how many did you catch ?

this side up · Post by **this side up** » Wed May 10, 2006 10:03 am

FYI to the new guys,

Clams like Bill is talking about are all over our Texas bays.....up North they go out at low tide and find them with a rake...never seen it done here. But you can find them with your feet. When you feel something hard under the sand or mud, it is probably a clam.

If you want one, just step off of it, run you hand down into your old foot print and dig about 4-6" inches and you got him....they don't run too fast. Same species as up North, but since ours are harvested they get huge (and tougher), the size of softballs. But tasty. Give it a try.

GUMB0 · Post by **GUMB0** » Wed May 10, 2006 11:02 am

This side up,

I surfed the TPWD pages looking for any Regulations on harvest of Mollusks Regulations but really did not find anything about it. You say these are commercially harvest? Is it something you need a licenses for ?
Just curious about the Regulations. Is there a ring size or set diameter they must be before they can be harvested.

I found a consumption ban on the Fresh water Species, opps :shock:

o' well I won't do that again

Would greatly appreciated any input about Clams from the Bays

Thanks,
Gum

this side up · Post by **this side up** » Wed May 10, 2006 11:37 am

Gum,
I don't know of any commercial operations locally......and I couldn't find anything from TPW regarding them either.......the species is Dinocardium Robustum (if all my schooling hasn't worn off). You see their shells in the shell hash on the really active beaches with a lot of scour like Matagorda.

In the bay if they die, they just stay buried. you can find some shells in Matty bay behing the beach, where some die and get blown up on the shore with those ripping Northers.

They have a series of ridges running from the hinge to the lip, that grow more pronounced as they gain in size. Little ones are smoother than the big brothers.

I just thought they were just something that lived in the bay, no big deal.
A buddy clued me when he dug one up and went ecstatic.....he was from up East and thought he had died and gone to heaven with the size of our local crop. I have tried them and like Bill said, they be good.

GUMB0 · Post by **GUMB0** » Wed May 10, 2006 12:21 pm

Thanks I will have to keep my eyes open!

blesker · Post by **blesker** » Wed May 10, 2006 12:59 pm

this side up wrote:Gum,
I don't know of any commercial operations locally......and I couldn't find anything from TPW regarding them either.......the species is Dinocardium Robustum (if all my schooling hasn't worn off). You see their shells in the shell hash on the really active beaches with a lot of scour like Matagorda.

In the bay if they die, they just stay buried. you can find some shells in Matty bay behing the beach, where some die and get blown up on the shore with those ripping Northers.

They have a series of ridges running from the hinge to the lip, that grow more pronounced as they gain in size. Little ones are smoother than the big brothers.

I just thought they were just something that lived in the bay, no big deal.
A buddy clued me when he dug one up and went ecstatic.....he was from up East and thought he had died and gone to heaven with the size of our local crop. I have tried them and like Bill said, they be good.

Sounds like something a wee 4 prong garden rake might be good for, eh?

You've seriously piqued my curiousity - now I'm going clam hunting too.

Man, I hate this adult attention deficit disorder!

b

this side up · Post by **this side up** » Wed May 10, 2006 1:51 pm

OUr mud here is so thick and deep that I don't think a regular garden rake would do it. These boys might be just below that radar. Now if you have old hand cultivator, 4 tined, those are long enough but the tines are so widely spaced they would probably bounce off a shell but you would know where it is. Heck, kinda like fishing, how far wrong can you go?

blesker · Post by **blesker** » Wed May 10, 2006 1:56 pm

this side up wrote:OUr mud here is so thick and deep that I don't think a regular garden rake would do it. These boys might be just below that radar. Now if you have old hand cultivator, 4 tined, those are long enough but the tines are so widely spaced they would probably bounce off a shell but you would know where it is. Heck, kinda like fishing, how far wrong can you go?

LOL good call amigo - how far wrong could I go?

Anyway - I'm going on a mission - someday soon.

b

Kelly Watson · Post by **Kelly Watson** » Thu May 11, 2006 12:25 pm

I love to grill mine too.
I also break off all the claws and make a foil pouch full of butter and crab boil and seal it tight. Steams them just right

Maulwalker · Post by **Maulwalker** » Sun May 14, 2006 8:51 am

Raack66 wrote:Maulwalker glad you liked it. The only thing that I do different in the cleaning process is instead of boiling them before I clean them I cover them with ice. After about 30 min. they are out. I also use a scewdriver to open instead of my thumbs. ( They get sore after cleaning a couple of dozen )

Where did you go and how many did you catch ?

We went right off of I10 by the San Jacinto Monument. We kept a dozen of the biggest. We caught a couple that were 10 inches tip to tip. I got really agitated by all the people asking to keep the undersized crabs we were throwing back. Seriously, this one lady wanted one that couldn't have been two inches across. For what, I don't know.

I'm hesitant to return to that location because I can't help but think marine life in that water might not be the healthiest. Will be looking for a cleaner area in the future.

As for the cleaning part, I pretty much figured it out by the second crab. The first one looked like my dog had torn it up...not so good.

GUMB0 · Post by **GUMB0** » Sun May 14, 2006 10:03 am

Any of the water along the Ship Channel is also under a consumption advisory. I not sure where you live but Todville Road in Sea Brook would be a better place to take the family.

TPWD Advisory

http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/leave/?u=ht ... hannel.pdf[/url]

BENNY · Post by **BENNY** » Sun May 14, 2006 12:41 pm

Another little yummy additive is a dab of Al-T's dabbin sauce on each crab. Works great on grilled shrimp too, and fish, and oysters and pork and chicken and steak.

Barnacle Bill · Post by **Barnacle Bill** » Sun May 14, 2006 2:55 pm

this side up wrote:OUr mud here is so thick and deep that I don't think a regular garden rake would do it. These boys might be just below that radar. Now if you have old hand cultivator, 4 tined, those are long enough but the tines are so widely spaced they would probably bounce off a shell but you would know where it is. Heck, kinda like fishing, how far wrong can you go?

That's what I use.. The Ol' garden tool.. Thanks for explaing it TSU. I probably should have let em' know we can get them ourselves here. I grew up diggin' clams for the bbq pit. A good wine to use is Riesling Spatlese or Auslese. Very nice but be sure not to over cook them or it will be like eating shoe leather. Once I feel them with my feet, I just dig down about wrist deep (I have big hands) and scoop them up and put them in a bucket. My kids love doing that so usually I have time for a cold one while the kiddos go around grabbin' clams. :wink:

Also, I don't get them from the upper coast. I don't want to be glowing in the dark. :shock:

teal · Post by **teal** » Sun May 28, 2006 8:18 pm

This is an interesting topic. I am looking forward to trying crabs on the pit next time down on the coast. The way we clean crabs is to break off the pincers and lay the crabs on their backs. Stand over them and put a foot on each point of the shell. Grab the legs and pull the body out of the shell. It works great without much effort. Finish cleaning as stated above. You can do this as you catch them and put the bodies in a cooler of ice. If you choose to wait make sure your crabs are alive when you process them. They spoil very quickly once they die. Also oysters (when in season) are excellent on the pit and they will open slightly when they are ready. If for some reason they don't open they were probabily dead before you put them on the pit. Don't eat them. In the early '80s I was aquainted with a fisherman from Maryland named Cosmo who managed Snoopy's in C.C. He had TPWD Permit # 1 to harvest clams. He had fried clam strips, clam chowder, and clams on the half shell on the menue and really tried to make a go of it. The eating was great but the availability wasn't enough to make it work for him here in Texas.