Ask anyone who grew up around the Chesapeake Bay what summer tastes like, and the answer is usually the same: blue crab. The scientific name, Callinectes sapidus, translates to beautiful savory swimmer, and it earns every word of it. Here is a short guide to Virginia’s most beloved crustacean, and to the ways we cook it right here at the market.
Where Virginia blue crabs come from
The Chesapeake Bay is the largest blue crab fishery in the United States, and Virginia holds the lower half of it. Blue crabs live throughout the bay and its tidal rivers, including the Rappahannock, the York, and the James. Watermen work them with crab pots from spring through late fall, with the sweetest, heaviest crabs coming in the warm months.
You will hear a little bay vocabulary at any good seafood counter. Jimmies are the big males with the brighter blue claws, and sooks are the mature females with red tipped claws. When a crab sheds its shell to grow, there is a brief window before the new shell hardens. That is the soft shell, and it is one of the great delicacies of the mid Atlantic.
What blue crab tastes like
Blue crab meat is sweet and delicate with a clean, faintly briny finish. Jumbo lump, the two big pieces from the swimming muscles, is prized for its texture and gentle sweetness. Claw meat is darker and richer, with a deeper crab flavor that stands up to soups and stews. There is no wrong choice, just different jobs for different cuts.
How we cook it here
Steamed crabs
The classic. A pile of jimmies steamed with spice, dumped on a paper covered table, and picked by hand with a mallet and good company. It is a meal that doubles as an afternoon.
From our case: steamed jimmy number one blue crabs by the dozen, in season.
Crab cakes
The Chesapeake standard: mostly lump meat, just enough binder to hold together, browned until golden. No filler doing the talking.
From our kitchen: the Crab Cake Sandwich, with lettuce, tomato, and seasoned fries.
Soft shells
Caught in that brief window after the molt, lightly dredged and pan fried whole, then eaten shell and all. A short season and worth chasing.
From our kitchen: the Softshell Crab Basket, when the season hits.
And when the weather calls for it, blue crab carries the rest of the table too: creamy she crab soup, the tomato based Chesapeake style with claw meat and vegetables, and one pot crab boils with corn, potatoes, and sausage.
Blue crab at the market
We carry local blue crab in season, straight from the case, along with the rest of the day’s catch. Availability changes with the water and the weather, so the case looks a little different every morning. Stop by and see what came in today, or ask the counter what is running best this week.