Boiled or Steamed Blue Crab Craving

Everyone's favorite place for Blue Crabs around here is located on the north side of the Bay, about 7 miles west of Freeport, on Hwy 20, called "Nick's." We call it Nick's in the Sticks, b/c they used to have a Nick's on the beach (in SoWal). It is a typical good seafood house, with lots of character, or should I say "characters?"

I don't have his number handy, but if you want to cook your own, you can get live Blue Crabs from Sam Wesley in Grayton Beach, located across the street from D&K's (not a store. it's his house). He runs a charter boat, owns Grayton Beach Services (chair and umbrella rentals), and also catches Blue Crabs. His phone 850-231-2043. Call him.

Nicks in the sticks is the spot. It's a swell drive over also,nice sunset too! How 'bout them Dawgs!

Keeping my fingers crossed for the Who Dat Nation. They are killing me today.

We always went to St. Andrews in PC, bought bait, and caught crabs. We'd have a mess of them. Mom would boil them for dinner -- m'm, m'm good!

My Daddy loved to fish. He always chartered a boat at least twice a year and took us deep-sea fishing in the Gulf. Back then we stayed in PC. As an aside, he used to drool over property on 30A, and we thought he was crazy.

Once when brother and I were too small to go, Grandma and Grandpa babysat us while Mom and Dad went out on a charter. Our motel complex had an explosion and fire, and Mom and Dad could see it from the boat out in the Gulf. Don't you know that it felt like an infinite amount of time to get back to the marina in PC and drive to the motel to see if we were okay? No cell phones then.

get a chicken neck, a piece of string and drop it in any stream with outlet to the ocean. You'll have to beat them off. In my younger days my husband and I had many a free meal off blue crabs. Are you staying anywhere near Grayton? If you want to go the easy way...Goatfeather's has fabulous seafood of every kind . I know they have great lump crab and they may also have the blues. If they don't have it they could tell you where to get it. Enjoy

get a chicken neck, a piece of string and drop it in any stream with outlet to the ocean. You'll have to beat them off. In my younger days my husband and I had many a free meal off blue crabs. Are you staying anywhere near Grayton? If you want to go the easy way...Goatfeather's has fabulous seafood of every kind . I know they have great lump crab and they may also have the blues. If they don't have it they could tell you where to get it. Enjoy

Where in SoWal can we go crabbing?

Called Sam and he said he'd get me a couple dozen. Where do you trap for crabs and do you need a license? In Louisiana, you can get in big trouble for trapping illegally.

I don't know curent regulations. Maybe the Florida welcome center can check this for you. I just remember wonderful crabbing everywhere. I still often see folks on the 30A bridges near Grayton state Park. If you like scallops, there are beautiful scallop beds at St. George island. I'll see whether I can find out any information from the Florida Dept of Natural Resources. I have also found the state at Grayton State Park extremely helpful and infomative. You might call there and see if they can give you information.

Just entered a web search for Flrida Blue crab harvesting...took me to a site called Florida Sportsman...that posted a summary. of current regulations. I tried to print it so I could quote it to you verbatim but my printer is not in a good mood this AM. Try the search yourself and you should get what you want. They gave the limit as 10 pounds. I would think the restrictions as far as where would have more to do with avoiding private property and not obstructing traffic. Once when we stayed in Grayton a couple was pulling in one of the big metal crab traps. They told me they just set it out when they came and came back a few days later to harves supper. I know my husband and I, in our youth, would thrash around in the surf with nets and catch some. That is a young persons sport. Hope this helps, have fun and enjoy

The same licensing rules apply for crabs as for fish. If you are not a FL resident, you are required to buy a license. If you are crabbing from a boat, even if you are a FL resident, you will need a license. I believe the legal limit is one five gallon bucket of crabs per day, and you cannot take female egg-bearing crabs. I always throw back all female crabs to keep the supply healthy, and I have a soft spot for females.

Okay - stupid question but the crabs in the gulf aren't blue crabs . . . right? They look totally different and I have seen lots close to the beach for the last few days but they looked pretty small and I wasn't sure if they were good to eat. I would assume they would but you never know.

I'd like to try the chicken neck theory but hate to drag myself away from the beach. I went to shrimpers today and asked for blue crab. They pointed at the jumbo lump (delicious but not what I wanted) and then looked at me like I was crazy when I asked for live crab.

I love lump crab meat, but there is nothing like digging in those crab shells eating all that crab fat.... and oh my God the seafood stock you can make with the leftovers.

nolagal, most fish houses around here don't sell live crabs. Sam is one of the few who has them.

I often see Blue Crabs in the Gulf, but there are also many ghost crabs, which are probably what you are seeing.

If you want tips on cleaning, cooking and eating the crabs, call me over for dinner. lol.

Your Crab post made me hungry so I baited my traps this afternoon. They are good eating, but I cannot eat them every day, if I have other options. Three "select" size crabs will make a meal for me.

I've seen live crab at Dewey Destin's just north of the Destin bridge, but they don't always have them.

THanks so much to everyone. Finally got my crabs from a really nice guy named Jay in SeaGrove. I called the number that you gave me for Sam and this is the guy that called me back. We have 2doz. big ones and are boiling them tonight. Of course we have our Zatarains, some potatoes and a tomato salad. I don't know what we will do with 2 dozen. We'll never be able to finish them all -- sigh. . . . crab cakes I guess or maybe crabmeat and asparagus omelets for lunch tomorrow.

The same licensing rules apply for crabs as for fish. If you are not a FL resident, you are required to buy a license. If you are crabbing from a boat, even if you are a FL resident, you will need a license. I believe the legal limit is one five gallon bucket of crabs per day, and you cannot take female egg-bearing crabs. I always throw back all female crabs to keep the supply healthy, and I have a soft spot for females.

That is all correct unless you are using traps, then anything less that 20 does not require a license if you are a state resident. Anything over 20 and you'll need a commercial fishing license.

In addition if you catch a stone claw crab in season you can only remove one claw and must return the entire crab to the water. Don't try it out of season cause the fines get steep, I believe it is around $50.00 per claw with no limit. Also if you don't know how to remove the claw please don't, if done incorrectly it will kill the crab. Rule of thumb is to leave egg bearing crabs alone, don't risk killing them.

Chicken or turkey necks works great and when handling blue crabs either learn to move quickly and hold it by the back fin where it connects to the body or get a good pair of leather gloves.

We always prepared them by removing the shell first and cleaning out the guts, gills, and other stuff you're not going to eat. Then we steamed them. The theory was that boiling pulls out the flavor.

We always boil them in NOLA. I don't know how you'd be able to clean them without at least dropping them in boiling water first. Even after keeping them cold, they are pretty fiesty as they are being thrown in the pot. I'm so clumsy, I'd be sure to lose a finger if I tried to rip off they shell while they were alive.

We drop them in boiling highly seasoned water for 5minutes and them soak them in that water for about 15minutes. This gives you a perfectly cooked and well seasoned crab IMHO.

I have friends from Maryland who also shudder at the thought of boiling them. They steam them as well. I guess it's just a regional thing.

Yep, grandparents from Maryland, hence the steamy response.

Boiling definitely looses flavor. I clean and bake mine in some butter, Worcestershire sauce, and Old Bay. Doesn't get any better than that.

Old Bay is the seasoning of the gods.

Please tell me, how are you cleaning them before cooking? I am in awe if you can clean them alive. I never thought of myself as sqeamish but UGH. I've never used Old Bay. We use Zatarains liquid and bagged crab boil. If I were to season them after, I'd use Tony Chacheres.

I went to Nicks in the Sticks last night had the steamed combo. I assume that it's Old Bay that they sprinkle on the shrimp, so I guess I've had my first Old Bay experience. (LOL still prefer my Zatarains)

BTW - what's up with everyone serving snow crab legs here in FL. You guys have such good local crab, I'm surprised that you would bother with imports. Anyway back home to NOLA now. Had a great time. Thanks everyone for all of the imput.

I told you to invite me to dinner, and I'd demonstrate cleaning, cooking and eating techniques. As gayboi described, you pop the top, pull the gills and guts if you like. I think the guts add a little flavor, so I will sometimes leave the guts. I try to put the crabs to sleep before popping their tops -- 30-40 minutes in the freezer will chill them out and it appears to numb them of pain.

I know how to clean them -- I just do it when they're dead. I guess getting them really cold might help. For some reason I don't mind cleaning live softshells (just cut their head/eyes right out) but the thought of ripping the guts out of the crab's shell just freaks me out a little. I'm glad to hear you leave some of the guts in when you cook them. I think that's the best part. I love that crab fat. I also love the hidden eggs that you get with some females. I know you throw those out and I probably should but they are soooo good. I love me some crab innards.

cleaning uncooked crabs,,,

FYI...I had a friend who cleaned a batch of crabs without cooking them and without wearing gloves to protect his hands. As soon as he had finished his task, his hands and arms, errupted in a horrid rash. The doctor told him he had contracted something from the shells of the uncooked crabs and he was sick as a dog for a couple weeks.. He didn't know about the risk and thought wearing gloves would be too cumbersome. He had knicked his hands up on the crab shells so whatever the agent was that had caused the infection rapidly became systemic. So, be careful ....I still recall how he suffered. I know the crab houses have the crab pickers wear gloves.

I've always used heavy duty leather gloves. Pull off the claws and then pop the top, a soft potato brush is great for getting the guts and gills out. You could probably just pull the mouth and eyes out along with the gills, but I've always been cleaning a large quantity so time is of the essence.

As to the snow crab issue I think it's laziness. I'd rather spend a couple hours picking and eating blue crabs til I pop, but some people prefer the lesser taste and the ease of cleaning.

Oh if you ate at Nick's then you had Old Bay.