Speaking of crabs...we are in Baltimore to nurse a 32-year-old child but have managed to have crab cakes twice for lunch. Now all we need is Berger's cookies for dessert. Ahh! There's no place like home.

When I am in the mood for crabs and not in the mood for visiting a restaurant, are there suggestions for places to purchase live crabs both in the city and on the eastern shore. I never know where to go to get live crabs when in Ocean City and less and less sure on the western shore.

Excellent idea. I'll definitely do a post on that during Crab Week (asking for suggestions). EL

This is where I show my newbie ignorance.

I don't know how to eat a crab. I don't know why big crabs are better than little crabs. Probably couldn't tell a female from a male without a scorecard. Can't cook a crab. At least, not and end up with something edible.

I do feel deprived. Unconscionably ignorant. Hopelessly and incurably Yankee.

So, please, don't forget the large numbers of Baltimoreans who came here from other places in the rust belt, where smelt, shad and pickerel are the seafood of choice. Especially those of us who can't get PBS on our ancient and cableless TVs.

Wow. Dark ages. Don't worry, my child, by the end of Crab Week you will know everything worth knowing about eating crabs. EL

I grew up w/ New England lobster... I do love me some backfin on a table in the sun.

Lissa said: Can't cook a crab. At least, not and end up with something edible.

Cooking the crabs is easy. The hard part is getting them into the pot without one of them getting you. Removing a crab that has latched onto someone's thumb is not easy (DAMHIKT*).

*Don't ask me how I know that

I love me some crab too, MD style. They do it differently down here, boiled! That's a gack too.

Gee Hal, I thought DAMHIKT was what you said when the crab latched on to your finger!

I thought DAMHIKT was what you said when the crab latched on to your finger!

The word for that is pronounced the same, but spelled @#$%^&*!!!

If you turn a crab on its back, the male has the washington monument as its apron flap, and the females have the capitol dome.

For me, the saddest part of cooking crabs is hearing them claw at the inside of the giant steamer pot tyring to escape while being roasted alive.

click, click, clickclickclickclick ...

But even that doesn't stop me from scarfing two dozen steaming hot crabs!

Also, L.I.Z., we should do a poll of how many people like little tubs of melted butter on the side to dip their crab meat in versus small piles of Old Bay. I'm all about the Old Bay.

When does one actually start eating crabs in this town?

(Native Floridian w/ some time spent in Texas Exile)

Rob in PCB-- what/where is PCB? We might be able to guide you to acceptable Maryland-style steamed crabs.

And for Sam -- That's not as bad as having a softshell say "Please don't hurt me!" just as you are about to put the sharp object between its eyes.

For me and mine opening day for crabs is Memorial Day weekend even though the crabs are not from Maryland. I just can't wait much longer than that.

Don't fall for the fallacy that the larger crabs are better eating than smaller ones. If the crab has just molted and formed a new hard shell, its flesh may need filling out. It's not unusual for so-called mediums ($10 or $20 a dozen cheaper than the largest) can be best. It's the heft, not the size.

With useful information like that from Federal Hill Jim, Crab Week should be a real keeper. I've lived here all my life and can pick a crab with the best of them (I'm slow, but thorough) and what is obvious after its stated is still so useful.

Hand raised...Old Bay, Old Bay!!!

Rob in PCB-- what/where is PCB?

I'm guessing Rob is in Panama City Beach, which while nominally in Florida, in many ways is more like South Alabama.

What happened to the trailer that was labeled part deux?

It's still there on my two browsers. Is that what you mean? EL

Sam - you should add cider vinegar onto that list of dippers. Although I'm a newbie to this practice, I really like it (although it's hell on your cut up fingers from those sharp shards of shell that always manage to tear your hands apart while picking!)

I hope you guys are going to be willing to repeat this very interesting line of conversation during Crab Week. EL

Joyce, that sounds interesting. I like vinegar on Boardwalk Fries, and the more I think about it, I kind of remember older members of my family eating crabs with vinegar on the side. I feel your pain -- Old Bay in a cut isn't exactly peaches and cream.

Thanks, everyone. I'm taking notes.

Cider vinegar? Not malt vinegar?

I think that serving butter on the side may not be traditional Chesapeake practice (please correct me if I'm wrong), but nonetheless I'm all for it. I had never had butter with crabs until a friend of mine (from the west coast) served it at a crab feast and now I am not sure I could eat crabs without it!

Best crab joints I know are on the Eastern Shore Hon! Waterman's in Rock Hall and Pier Street Marina in Oxford. Beat Harris's , ST. Mike's Crab Claw and
Cantler's ( which used to be a find).
Bottom line, Merriland crabs are the sweetest and tastiest!