Not all Crabs Crack the Same Way!

Maryland Blue Crabs and Canadian Snow Clusters warrant some savvy cracking skills. If you’re looking for ease, snow beats blue, claws down! Blue crabs require a removal of the main carapace (top shell) and a scraping away of feathery lungs and internal inedible pieces. It also requires a keen picking fork and an eye for shells. The rewards definitely deserve a hot butter dip, however! Snow crabs have a large center body, but all these parts are inedible and removed at a dock steaming. The only work for the crab fan is a swift snap of the leg and the fibrous meat easily pulls out. Each requires a picking that gets every last morsel and a clean portion void of shells. Remember tap. Don’t rap a shell to get to the meat. Nobody likes crab meat with shells!

Taste between the two is abundantly different. Yes, they both boast a crab flavor, but blue crabs offer three distinct meat options. Jumbo, pulls from the back-swimming leg area and exhibits a pristine, clean taste with a salty-sweet flavor and a hint of butter. Lump cracks from the two crab halves and resembles jumbo with smaller pieces and less plump texture. Finally, claw picks from the two main pincers and is fibrous with a more robust crab taste. Three delicious options. Snow, on the other claw, does have a fibrous quality that helps pull out of a cracked leg. The taste resembles the lump meat in the blue crab, but with a saltier quality and a mild sweetness. Set a blue crab and snow crab cluster side by side and taste the differences. The equalizer is that hot clarified butter. Get cracking!