You’ve Got Crabs! Of the Soft-Shell Variety

For true seafood lovers, one of Mother Nature’s greatest inventions
is undoubtedly the soft-shell crab. “Softies” are one of those rare
creatures that seem engineered specifically for human consumption.

For the uninitiated, a soft-shell crab is a crab that has just
molted (shed) its hard shell due to the growing process. Immediately
after molting, and for up to 48 hours thereafter, the “shell” of the
crab is soft and skin-like. During this time the crab is extremely
vulnerable to predators (especially those of the two-legged variety).

The most common soft-shell variety in the U.S. and especially on the
Gulf Coast is the well-known blue crab. The soft-shell crab season
traditionally runs from May to September when warmer waters spur crab
growth and the associated molting process.

Softies are harvested by crab fisherman who trap crab and then
separate out the “peeler” crabs that are showing signs they are about
to molt. These crabs are placed in underwater trays and then watched
closely for when they finish the molting process. Once they shed their
hard shell they are immediately removed from the water to prevent their
now-soft shells from beginning the hardening process. They are then
kept moist and refrigerated and shipped live to seafood distributors
and restaurants for purchase/consumption preferably within 48 hours.

Soft-shell crabs are sold live, fresh, or frozen. Live softies are
alive right up until cooking, fresh are recently harvested and fresh
but no longer alive, and frozen are harvested crabs that have been
processed and immediately frozen for eating year-round. Most of the
soft-shells you get in poboys and sushi spider rolls are of the frozen
variety.

In Houston (and arguably the entire US) the go-to vendor for
soft-shell crab is Airline Seafood on Richmond. Nobody gets live
soft-shell crab earlier than Airline (the warm waters of the Gulf spur
earlier molting). This year they were delivering softies to local
restaurants such as Mark’s American Cuisine and Reef in early March.
When I visited this past week, VP Mark Musatto showed me tray after
tray of live softies that had just arrived from Seadrift, Texas.

This particular tray of 30-40 medium-sized softies was headed to Reef seafood restaurant in Houston. Chef Bryan Caswell serves them as a tempura
battered-and-fried appetizer with an avocado and radish salad and a
splash of roasted pepper sauce.

And to answer the question that many of you are asking yourselves: YES, you do eat the whole thing.
Sure it does seem non-intuitive, especially for those crab lovers who
painstakingly pick through the hard shell of boiled or BBQ crabs
searching every crevasse of the body and claws for those delectable
pieces of crab meat. But that’s the beauty of the softies — no sharp
shells and hard work — just pick the whole thing up and start eating.

This article appears in Mar 26 – Apr 1, 2009.