Growing up in San Francisco I learned to love seafood.  Every Friday night my dad brought home a live crab and boiled it.  I prefer crab meat to filet mignon.

Last night Betty and I went out to eat to celebrate our wedding anniversary.  We went to one of our favorite restaurants.  Granted a poor substitute for O'Breckies in Baltimore or Bookbinders in Philadelphia or Scomas in San Francisco, but when you are a thousand miles from the ocean what can you do?

We always eat half our meal and get boxes to carry the other half home in for dinner the following evening.

When the waitress brought out the boxes I complained to her that I felt cheated.  I only got one claw with my order of crab legs.

She went back into the kitchen and brought me back a complimentary three orders of crab legs.  We needed another box to cram them all in.  I left her a fifteen dollar tip.

It took me over an hour to crack those legs and wheedle out that succulent meat.  It was more crab than I had ever eaten at one sitting.  I should have save some for tomorrow when when you are presented with such fare you tend to be greedy and glutenous.

Getting the meat out of crab legs is a delicate art.  I've never been able to teach Betty how to do it.  I  Iearned how at my father's knee.

Crab meat should be dipped in melted lemon butter to make it worth savoring.

The year between leaving the Marine Corps and joining the Air Force I worked in the Southern Pacific Railroad general offices a 1 Market street in downtown San Francisco.  There a few of us who worked through lunch on Thursday so we cold take a two hour lunch on Friday.  We would go to Fisherman's Wharf and buy a couple of crabs right out of the pot on the side walk.  Then we would buy a bottle of wine and a loaf of San Francisco French Bread and drive to Marine Greens and sit in the grass and have a mini feast.

When God created crab he had me in mind.

Noel

 

When God created crab he had the crab in mind, not you.

I live in Perth Australia (temporarily) and Mudcrab is AUD150.00 a kilo.  When God made crabs he had a money making scheme LOL

That AUD150 per kilo incidently, is close to half my forthnightly aged pension.  A little out of my league.

Tony

Here ya go, Noel!  Boil this guy! 🦀

 

1 hour ago, birdguy said:

When God created crab he had me in mind.

Crab legs?  So visit us on Maryland's near eastern shore and we'll see you get your own dozen. whole steamed Chesapeake Bay blue crabs.  

As a general rule, I think the effort required to get a thimbleful of meat out of your average crab is simply not worth it.

King crabs and snow crab on the other hand is something I like.

Also, despite promising for years to do so, I have never been able to make myself take a bite of a soft-shelled crab......

I've been there Frank.  Several times.  We have friends in Baltimore.  They took us to the east shore for crab sometimes.  More fun if you've read Chesapeake.

The Red Lobster serves snow crabs.

Noel

2 hours ago, birdguy said:

Crab meat should be dipped in melted lemon butter to make it worth savoring.

AAGGHH  !!  NO!   Garlic butter!

48 minutes ago, fppilot said:

Crab legs?  So visit us on Maryland's near eastern shore and we'll see you get your own dozen. whole steamed Chesapeake Bay blue crabs.

Oh, the memories. I'm from Baltimore. Since moving to Phoenix in '63, the best I can do is Red Lobster. Which is infinitely better than no crab at all.

 Sue

32 minutes ago, Penzoil3 said:

AAGGHH  !!  NO!   Garlic butter!

AAGGHH!  Nothing but Old Bay transferred to fingers from the crabs when cracking!  And I do not put steak sauce on a great steak either..  And I only eat great steaks!

40 minutes ago, HiFlyer said:

As a general rule, I think the effort required to get a thimbleful of meat out of your average crab is simply not worth it.

 

Chesapeake Bay blue crabs then are not average crabs.....  Unless you have a really large thimble.

1 hour ago, HiFlyer said:

I have never been able to make myself take a bite of a soft-shelled crab......

To my knowledge mate, the soft shell is only because the crab has shed its previous shell. Given that it is at its most vunerable after doing so, I would imagine his trepidation is probably slightly more than yours LOL.

Regards

Tony

3 minutes ago, himmelhorse said:

Given that it is at its most vunerable after doing so, I would imagine his trepidation is probably slightly more than yours LOL.

I guess I just can't abide the thought of all the gunk i'm swallowing that I would normally be carefully throwing away if it was a regular crab......

Edit: For real seafood lovers, you might be interested in this facebook group I bumped into a while ago.... https://www.facebook.com/groups/637407536771326

Edited August 5, 20214 yr by HiFlyer

I enjoy crab too.  My dying wish is for my body to be weighted down and dumped into the Chesapeake Bay.  I feasted upon the fish and crab from the bay, I figure that when I die, I can return the favor.  I'm told by a great many people that my final wish is not allowed by various laws. 

2 hours ago, stans said:

I enjoy crab too.  My dying wish is for my body to be weighted down and dumped into the Chesapeake Bay.  I feasted upon the fish and crab from the bay, I figure that when I die, I can return the favor.  I'm told by a great many people that my final wish is not allowed by various laws. 

Stans,
I've found an addon KFCI for MSFS at TO.  Are you aware of it?