When I lived in Maryland I had friends who had a vacation home in St. Michaels’ on the Eastern Shore. I would spend holidays and many weekends during the summer months with their family fishing for the ultimate catch—the Maryland Blue Crab. We would get up at the crack of dawn—4:00 am to tie salted dead eels to a 1,500-foot trout line to catch crabs before the sun became too intense to scare the crabs away. We would walk down the pier in the dark, with our flashlights and thermos of hot coffee in hand, as we got in the boat and headed out to the glassy coves of the Chesapeake, laying out our bait in hopes of an abundant catch. After we finished laying the lines, we headed back to shore, but only briefly, before we headed back out again with our nets in hand as we slowly motored the boat, netting our feast for the day.

Once we arrived back at the house, we would sleep until at least 1:00 pm and then fire up the steaming pots getting ready for our Crab Feast. And everyone in the neighborhood was invited. Picnic tables would be covered in today’s newspapers, kegs of beer would be plentiful, corn on the cob would be grilling, vats of butter melting, along with tubs of freshly made coleslaw and of course, the star attraction…bushels of Maryland Blue Crabs would be steaming with plenty of Old Bay Seasoning, Rock Salt, Distilled Vinegar and of course Beer!  That was in the 1980’s–and unfortunately things are a lot different today…:-(

Several weeks ago, I was visiting my family in Maryland and I wanted to purchase steamed crabs, but at $55 per dozen for really small crabs, I was shocked and decided to purchase jumbo lump crab meat instead at $18 per lb. I know that blue crabs fully mature in late August-September, but I never remember them being so small and expensive for mid-June. So I decided to use my jumbo lump crab meat and make a creamy crab soup with charred fresh corn, which was absolutely incredible. I served the soup with a salad tossed with a fresh watermelon, cantaloupe, arugula, mint, lemon and olive oil, and served it with crusty, fresh bread and it was delicious!! And of course, a really nice refreshing wine. It brought back all of the memories when crabs in the Chesapeake were plentiful and those 4:00 am fishing trips

So when I got back to work, I was happy to see that the Executive Chef had purchased Chesapeake Bay Soft-Shelled Crabs and so I wanted to make my favorite Soft-Shelled Crab BLT Sandwich with Cajun Remuolade and Old Bay Fries!

A soft-shelled crab is the same as a regular hard shelled blue crab except (unfortunately) he was captured at his most vulnerable point when he is shedding his shell (and his skin is really soft) before he has an opportunity to mature to a larger crab. Most people (unless they grow up in the mid-Atlantic East Coast, Gulf of Louisiana, or even San Francisco) are really turned off by the sight of wholes crabs or cleaning them and prefer crab meat, which has already been cleaned and processed. But once you sit down at a table covered in old newspaper and crack open a cold beer and have this steaming flavorful, seasoned crab in front of you—you can’t help but take the next step! And the same goes for cooking and eating soft-shelled crabs!

I cleaned and soaked the soft-shelled crabs in buttermilk and then tossed them lightly in seasoned flour (paprika, old bay, salt and pepper) before lightly pan-frying in canola oil until crispy. Meanwhile, make your Cajun remoulade sauce—you can even use good store bought mayonnaise seasoned with Cajun spices. Next cook strips of applewood smoked bacon until crispy, and then shred romaine lettuce and slice fresh heirloom tomatoes. Serve everything on a warm crusty bun, along with fries or chips tossed with Old Bay Seasoning and salt.

This to me is my ultimate summer sandwich and I hope that you’ll give it a try and it will become a favorite of yours as well. Enjoy!