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Mr. Luddite

On 10/28/2015 2:16 AM, wrote:
On Tue, 27 Oct 2015 20:31:55 -0400, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:

On 10/27/2015 8:15 PM, wrote:
On Tue, 27 Oct 2015 16:32:33 -0700, Califbill billnews wrote:

Our Dungeness crabs have lots of meat, so worth banging. Couple times I
had soft shell crabs, did not impress me.

I picked one out down in the market in San Francisco once. It is OK
but not as much flavor as a real Chesapeake blue crab.
The crabs down here are not as good. It probably has to do with the
fact that then never hibernate. The best crabs are right before the
first molt of the early summer.

On soft shells, freshness is a big deal. Frozen ones will not be as
good. Usually they are lightly sauteed in butter with a tiny pinch of
old bay. Don't over cook them. On your coast they may have been
steamed before they were shipped.

During my last two years in the Navy, stationed in Annapolis, MD, we'd
go get chicken backs and necks, tie them to the lines of our fishing
poles, cast out, let the chicken sink to the bottom and pull up two or
three soft shells at a time. Problem was the sea gulls we attracted.

"Soft shells"?

That is unusual. I have netted up a few but usually they keep a pretty
low profile until the shell hardens because everyone eats soft crabs,
including other crabs.
You must have had a sweet spot where they go to hide,

I think the warm water here hardens them up pretty fast because none
of our local crab guys ever seems to get a soft shell in their traps.
I did show them how to spot a peeler because that is prime bait for
just about anything but they are here rare too.

I don't recall it being unusual back then (late 70's). My understanding
is that "soft shell" crabs are simply Blue Crabs that have shed their
shell and the new one hasn't hardened yet. We used to catch a lot of them.

One guy I knew then used to get oysters from a boat (near the shore),
crack them open and eat them on the spot. I didn't, although I've done
my share at the Union Oyster House in Boston. At least the ones
served there have been processed and cleaned. It was a favorite dining
spot for some of my company's customers from other parts of the country
and I used to take them there for some wineing and dining.

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