blue crabs??

[one_lucky_shot]

good bad?? any idea on cooking them. saw a bunch of traps with them in htere over in the river. any good to eat??

[dagodiver]

Excellent to eat.
boil or steam, I like the beer steamer. season to taste
and do not over cook.
Usually only take the male crabs the way you
can tell is get them in the boat and line them up
in a row and wave a brand new credit card in front
of them whichever ones try to grab it are the females !!
No really turn them over and look on the bottom of there
shell starting from the back pointed forwards is a
shape like } this the wide ones that come to a slow point
are females and the one that get narrow and real pointed are
the males.
Hope this helps
Dago

[one_lucky_shot]

well it helps enough to get them in the boat. but now cooking them. just through the entire crab in the pot??? live? awhat kind of prep?

[Wet Spot]

Blue Crab, Don't keep them if the underside has orange "berries"., Otherwise they're all good. Females usually have more yellow fat in them (best part).
Seasonings: salt, cayanne pepper, crab boil, lemons, bay leaf, onions, garlic. Crab is a sweet meat, don't over cook or over season.
Boil for 8 min. or so, turn them off and let it cool for about half an hour. The seasoning doesn't soak in until they cool off some.
Get the water fairly salty and season till the pepper burns your nose a bit add as much lemon as you want. Cut a few pods of garlic and some onions in half and boil for about ten minutes before adding the crabs.
Don't eat the crabs gills either, everything else is fair game. Oh, btw they shoot you down here for stealing from traps, be careful...