Gulf crabs of MD crabs???

[foodpornaddict]

I'm taking my girlfriend on a road trip from NY to SC in January.
We have always heard of the amazing MD blue crabs but concerns rise as I hear a lot of places serve gulf crabs instead of MD crabs????????????????????

Any suggestions on an AMAZING MD crab experience as we drive by Maryland? Oh and how are the prices? Thanks a bunch guys

[dining with doc]

they are the same species of crab- The blue crab
the location of where crabs served in maryland originate from is determined by availablility which is a function of time of year. Most crabs served in Dec in MD will be shipped in from the gulf states but will be live when cooked and prepared MD style. Not a problem

[Just Visiting]

Agree entirely. The blue crab supply in the Chesapeake Bay is extremely limited at any time of year, both by bushel limits and prohibitions on harvesting females during certain times of the year.

There isn't much near I95 that is worthwhile, but I assume you will be breaking the trip into at least two segments, so you could venture a bit off the highway. In that case, I strongly recommend Cantler's. It is off Route 50, which is a major highway to Annapolis.

http://www.cantlers.com/

Price depends on size. I think a dozen large are running about $60. We always order large or jumbo if available because the work: eating ratio is better. We don't mind the time/work of picking crabs (or the mess) but then we want to be rewarded by a good sized chunk of crab!

[Steve]

"There isn't much near I95 that is worthwhile"

Bill's Terrace Inn in Baltimore is very close to 95. The open at 4pm. Highly recommended, but a line starts forming soon after. Please realize that steamed crabs is not fast food. Allow a minimum of 35 minutes for the crabs to be steamed. Depending on when/where you go, a long wait to be seated is common as well.

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Bill's Terrace Inn
200 Eastern Blvd, Essex, MD 21221

[Dennis S]

And the time it takes to eat them can be a couple of hours, especially with a group.

[hon]

Maryland Crab Season ends tomorrow on the 15th so you won't be eating MD crabs no matter where you go and at this time of year MD crab houses are serving gulf crabs anyway.

[fudizgud]

I'm someone who really believes in origin of your food matters and yet the best crabs i have had were some gulf crabs and on another occasion some freshly trapped ones from the bay. I honestly couldn't say one was better than the other.

[Ziv]

Fud, I agree that some of the best crabs in the world are the ones I ate after pulling them out of the bay a few hours before. But should I have 'cleansed' them by putting them in clean water for a couple hours? I think you are supposed to put oysters in clean, fresh (or brackish) water for 24 hours without food to let them clean themselves out, should I have done something similar with my crabs?
I know they are entirely different, but is there an improvement in crab quality if you hold them in clean water for a few hours? I usually just ice them and eat them.

[fudizgud]

The fresh from the bay crabs were at harris Crab House where when we entered they only had Jumbos and then they came to our table and said that a boater had just pulled up with two dozen goiant sized crabs fresh from the pots and did we want some. 6 were as expensive as the dozen we had just consumed but they were some of the best I have ever had: huge, very heavy to the feel, incredibly meaty. The best gulf crabs I have had were at a dive bar in Baltimore and were just as fantastic: again, very heavy to the feel which means they had not lost much water weight and they had not molted recently.

Never having had the pleasures of pulling them out of the bay myself, I do not think there is an advantage. The reason you hold wild oysters in water is to allow them to purge sand as they are filter feeders. Crabs have a sac that contains all the sand & grit which you should avoid.

Most oysters these days are farmed and they are usually held in tanks with recirculating, filtered water from the water they were raised in so no purging is necessary when you get them. Most Mussels are rope grown, from the insipid small shelled blue & black varieties that most restaurants serve to the larger Mediterranean Black species which has less of an oval shape and more of a d shape to the shell. Again, don't purge as this will just dilute the flavors. A little grit won't kill you and most of it will be in the bottom of the bowl and easily avoidable. Clams tend to have the most sand and again, the small amount that you will see in commercially harvested/farmed clams is a small price to pay for the full flavor you get when the clams are not purged.

If you do purge at home or in a restaurant, you are essentially killing the shellfish slowly because the water is not the water they grew in and switching water kills them. I mention this not in a animal cruelty sense as I don't believe that shellfish has a developed enough nervous system to feel pain, but they do have a danger response which, IMO, reduced the positive flavors. Also, as the shellfish is in distress, off flavors develop.

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Crab House
305 Mulberry St, Saint Michaels, MD 21663

[ospreycove]

There are very few Chesapeake crabs in the Winter; as most of them burrow into the mud at the bottom of the bay and those that are caught are not "full" meaning the meat has been reduced by the crab's hibernation. Gulf crabs are available but not at their peak harvest. In my experience Gulf and chesapeake Blue Crabs are similiar in taste, BOTH GREAT!!!!!!!

[hon]

You can't crab in Maryland in the winter, the season is over today.

[fudizgud]

While there has been a resurgence of the crab in the bay, from something like 4% of historical level to maybe 10%, the population is far from healthy and the recovery is still fragile due to habitat loss and the lack of sea grasses. I think that anyone who eats poached crabs belongs in jail or should be fined heavily. The poachers should be cut up and fed to the crabs.

Same with rockfish fishermen who take the fish illegally. The only reason we have abundant rockfish today is great fishery management. Pro Fish was just convicted for illegal rockfish and any restaurant or retailer buying from them should know this and stop.

I eat Chesapeake crabs rarely now that the issues are better publicized. The Maryland Department of Fish and Game is working on Marine Stewardship Certification and if there are MSC certified crabs than you can eat them without guilt. But until then, I eat mostly gulf crabs for conservation reasons. And I only buy from responsible folk who are part of the restoration efforts on the bay. Harris Crab House is definitely one of the good guys, being a major part of the reef restoration and oyster repopulation efforts which will do nothing but help the crab population.

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Harris Crab House
433 Kent Narrow Way N, Grasonville, MD 21638

[agarnett100]

I agree with fudizgud on that one. Crabs in MD also come from SC as well. Go to the Maine Ave Wharf and stop at Captain Whites Boat and he sells a 1/2 mixed bushel for $35