My Husband Showed Me How to Eat Crab
His Dad Made Crab Cakes
I led a protected life. Part of that was my family ate a somewhat bland diet. To this day, I don’t go in for spicy food. But, the first time I had crab, live cooked in the backyard with my husband and my inlaws was pretty astounding.
We’d been married for about five years, and I’d never met his folks. We lived an ocean apart and could never afford plane tickets. But, there came a time when we decided to move from Germany back to the United States.
I remember a grinding 40-hour plane trip that included waiting in airports because our flight had been oversold. There was also a furious mad dash with luggage across the tarmac at JFK to the last airplane of the night going to Baltimore. Dennis’ father picked us up and took us home. That was the night I met my in-laws for the first time.
That was also the night I decided to call them Mom and Dad, just the same as I called my folks. It seemed right and an instant relief because I’d been worried about it for so long.
To celebrate our arrival, Dennis drove to the wharf in Washington, D.C., and bought a bushel of crabs from the pier. Dennis’ dad, Pete, steamed them over a bed of seaweed. Many cans of the cheapest beer around went into the pot. I stayed far away from the action because the thought of living beings steamed alive didn’t sit right with me.
Dennis’ family was loud. Every single one of them. My family is noisy too, but it had been some time since we’d been around them. I just wasn’t used to the noise.
I was worried during the first three days we were there because of the tone of conversation between my husband and his mother, Mary. I thought they were angry at each other. When I finally asked Dennis what was going on and why there was such friction, he didn’t know what I was talking about.
He told me that’s just how they were. Loud and argumentative.
Okay, so I learned that.
Somebody prepared the picnic table with newspaper and many sheets of paper to cover it. Then, they dumped the pot of crabs on top. It was a mountain of red crabs. I sat beside my husband totally clueless about what to do. He showed me how to take a mallet and a pair of pliers and crack the crabs and take out the crab meat.
I remember he said not to eat the dead man’s fingers.
What? Jesus, what the hell were dead man’s fingers doing in a crab? He told me those were the lungs. They called them that just because that’s what they looked like.
There was a bowl on the table. For every crab you ate, you needed to fill the bowl with the meat from another crab. That was the rule. The next day, Pete made his crabcakes. The most delicious I’ve ever had. I followed him around the kitchen to get the recipe because it wasn’t written down.
Pete’s Crab Cakes Depending on what you’ve got, alter the ingredients at will.
1 pound Crab Meat Dice 2 onions and 1/2 pepper green or red Butter Old Bay Seasoning * 2–3 eggs 2 tablespoons mayonnaise 1 teaspoon mustard (optional) 6 slices stale crustless cubed bread (or breadcrumbs if you want) Corn flake crumbs or breadcrumbs
Sauté onion, pepper, and celery in butter. Let it cool. Add Old Bay Seasoning. Mix in with the bread cubes. Add in mayonnaise and an egg. Salt and pepper to taste. Just a little bit. The mixture will be mushy. Then add the crab meat and put it in the refrigerator for 1–2 hours or overnight. Form into small patties. Roll the patties in dried breadcrumbs. Dot with butter and bake in the oven at 325°F (or 160 °C) for half an hour to 45 minutes.
Thanks for reading.
The Links: * If you can’t find Old Bay Seasoning, go here for a copycat recipe and the history behind the seasoning.