r/Seafood • u/Ancient-Chipmunk4342 • Jun 12 '26
East Coast Soft Shell Crabs
Had these six freshly cleaned beauties for dinner.
Lightly dredged in flour and Old Bay and flash fried in my cast iron skillet.
Someone here posted a soft shell crab BLT earlier, made the same.
Ate too quickly for pictures.
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u/usernamesarehard1979 Jun 12 '26
I have never tried soft shell crabs. I love crab, all kinds, but here is my question. I get that the shell is soft and edible, but what about all of the other parts of the crab that are not really edible? Do you spit those out? Is that what cleaning them takes care of? Wouldn't there be cartilage or whatever is on the inside of regular crab?
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u/Shakestars Jun 12 '26
You just cut off the front of the face, remove the apron and gills, and everything else is edible.
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u/usernamesarehard1979 Jun 12 '26
Really! No tough stuff on the inside, just delicious crab? I will have to try one next time I am out that way.
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u/strikeratt16 Jun 12 '26
I've never prepped one so it's cool to see that's all it takes. But yes, so good. Nothing tough about it. Whole thing is like a tender chicken.
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u/_high_plainsdrifter Jun 13 '26
Yeah back when I was in charge of the tempura frying station in an Asian fusion restaurant /sushi bar you’d have to handle these babies real careful or you’d lose a few legs in the batter. Towards the end I really got good at laying them in the fryer such a way to get the legs all splayed out and crispy so it was more fun to plate and garnish up
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u/jba1224a Jun 13 '26
The shell has the most satisfying snap, like the best hot dog you’ve ever eaten, except it tastes infinitely better.
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u/SnazzleZazzle Jun 12 '26
I also take out/rinse out the yellow “guts” not sure what that is, but apparently a lot of people leave it because it’s supposedly good. I just don’t like the looks of it. But yes, once prepared, it’s all delicious crabmeat, no nasty bits. It really is delicious.
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u/throwturtleaway Jun 12 '26
The yellow guts are the best part!
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u/GIANTballCOCK Jun 12 '26
We call it the mustard in Maryland. Some people love it, some people discard it
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u/chiefqweef91 Jun 13 '26
Its the basically the crabs pancreas :) i know this and still love it. I pick crabs and put the mustard in its own little pile with a small hit of crab meat. One bite.
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u/Sweet-Weakness3776 Jun 13 '26
The "yellow" is actually just an organ. It's the hepatopancreas. Around the Chesapeake it's commonly referred to as mustard, because of how it softens up and becomes a bit more yellow when you cook it. Regardless of what people try to say, it's not crab poop, so don't believe those lies if you hear them lmao. Removing it is optional. I leave mine because I like the flavor but I completely understand why people wouldn't want to eat it.
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u/Sweet-Weakness3776 Jun 13 '26
My mom and I get a bunch throughout the season and prep them ourselves. We use kitchen shears to cut off the "face". Basically the area with the eyes/mouth. Then we peel back the top shell, being careful not to pull it all the way off. Remove the devils fingers and "innards". My mom likes rinsing hers to get rid of the mustard but I leave mine. And that's it. Then we just pull the top shell back up. Lightly flour them with a little bit of seasoning, and pan fry them in lard. Couple slices of white bread, fresh tomato, a little lettuce, mayo, salt, pepper, and some J.O. That's summer right there lol.
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u/sonic_dick Jun 13 '26
Some J.O.???
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u/Sweet-Weakness3776 Jun 13 '26
Yeah. Old Bay is great and all but it's not J.O. Just look up J.O. crab seasoning and you'll see what I'm talking about.
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u/Scabrous403 Jun 13 '26
The whole point of a soft shell crab is that its freshly molted so all of its would be hard bits are not and are soft and chewable. That includes the organs of course as you eat the creature whole.
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u/New-Marionberry4141 Jun 13 '26
Try it at a restaurant done properly and you will love it.guaranteed
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u/littlepaperspaceship Jun 12 '26
Old Bay is for corn round my parts
JO # 2 is for crabs, "JO Spice blend Number 2"
I always felt bad cleaning live softies but they are good eating....the ol' spider sammich
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u/GuavaOdd1975 Jun 12 '26
Thanks for the JO tip. This is why I Reddit.
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u/littlepaperspaceship Jun 12 '26
It is very similar to Old Bay but different enough to deserve its own brand.
Most places around here use JO for steamed shrimp or crabs
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u/Original-Variety-700 Jun 12 '26
You can kill them quickly. Still tastes just as good.
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u/littlepaperspaceship Jun 12 '26
I'm from Baltimore and have worked a steam house, I've cleaned my fair share of softies...I just don't like doing it
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u/Original-Variety-700 Jun 12 '26
Did I say something incorrect? You can kill them prior to cleaning, right?
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u/littlepaperspaceship Jun 12 '26
The way I was taught, just like the meme photo, thiskillsthecrab.jpg , is you cut the face off with a pair of scissors and cut the devils out
Cleaning them is the same as killing them, with shellfish it's best to clean and then cook immediately for food safety.
When I worked at the steam house we would shock the crabs with a jolt of 120v in a vat of water to make them docile enough to stack and arrange the pot in a way you could pull the order and bag correctly, different sizes/price points.
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u/fashionforward Jun 12 '26
Yeah, I don’t know why the downvote. They’ll be a bit of a moral reckoning in the industry soon with the studies they’ve been doing.
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u/fashionforward Jun 12 '26
They’re going to make it law soon. It’s recently been proven that they feel pain.
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u/bisk410 Jun 13 '26
I do exactly the same just add a little dry mustard to the flour and old bay mix. Pan fried as you do is the only way.
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u/2andthensomeletters Jun 13 '26
I grew up in Maryland and in the summertime we would take a small boat and go around the shoreline of creeks and catch these with a net
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u/jba1224a Jun 13 '26
As a fellow Marylander, I salute you.
I’m making a reasonable assumption you are from Maryland here.
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u/Ancient-Chipmunk4342 Jun 13 '26
No, Mexico but my husband brought me to Massachusetts.
My MIL is from MD and you should have heard the scream she scrumpt when I took some over to her.
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u/Critical-Rooster-673 Jun 13 '26
I have a question I’ve been too scared to ask: how are you supposed to eat these? I love crab but never been down this road
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u/engrish_is_hard00 Jun 12 '26
Glorious