Baltimore is famous for its crabhouses, including Obrycki’s in Fells Point, L.P. Steamers in Locust Point, Bo Brooks in Canton and more. It's another delicacy I'm ashamed to say I've never tried. Of course, this had to be fixed.
The Baltimore variety is actually the Chesapeake Bay blue crab, which has made its stake as the city’s unofficial mascot. You can find blue crab paraphernalia all over Baltimore and in other parts of Maryland as well. I have a t-shirt somewhere in my dresser that I bought from Baltimore 15 years ago that says, “I’m just a little crabby in Baltimore.”
So I did my research, deciding on L.P. Steamers. It appeared less commercial than some of the other crabhouses in the city (stay away from Phillips in the Inner Harbor, then again just stay away from any restaurant in the Inner Harbor. L.P. Steamers is unpretentiously appealing, with its simple red sign with white letters. The interior is friendly and relaxed, with just a few booths and tables, perfect for a place where you’re going to be messy anyway.
Luckily my dining companion was an experienced crab eater, so he knew exactly what to order. L.P. Steamers offers crabs in different sizes, including small, large and jumbo. I’ve heard the larger crabs are easier to extract meat from than the smaller ones.
Our waitress soon arrived wiht a tray of one dozen jumbo crabs. She dumped them right onto our table, slapping a roll of paper towels down as well. I noticed that my only utensils were a knife and a wooden mallet. When asking the waitress if I needed a fork, she laughed. I was supposed to eat this with my hands?
I also noticed – my crab was not blue, but red. Here’s why:
When alive, the shell of the blue crab has a bluish tint. However, after steaming and cooking, the crab takes on a reddish tone, a similar effect you might have seen with shrimp and lobster. The cause is pretty technical, involving a chemical called astaxanthin, from which I will kindly spare you the details.
(Thanks to http://www.bluecrab.info/cooking_faq.htm for this explanation)
I quickly learned that eating whole crabs is quite the art:
First you must remove the two front claws, and save them to eat later. Next, you use your knife to cut out the apron, which is the “T” shaped part on the crab’s underbelly. Now you can pry the hard top shell off of the crab and open it up. Here’s where it gets a little gross – it’s a whole crab, so everything’s still there, including the intestines, liver and a disturbing mustard colored substance. Don’t eat any of it, just scrap it out quickly. Make sure to remove the lungs too, they actually look just like crab meat. And try not to confuse the lungs with crabmeat, like I did. Gross.
Now just break the crab in half to expose the meat. There’s also meat in the smaller legs attached; they can be cracked opened easily. For the two large claws, it’s helpful to use the mallet to crack them open. Surprisingly, you don’t need to use very much force with the mallet. The first time I was a bit overambitious, splattering both crab shell and crab juice all over my face.
Crab meat is juicy, sweet and delicious. I also enjoyed the seasoning, which tasted a bit like Old Bay, another Baltimore staple, on top of the crabs. I found that dipping the meat in melted butter and then its seasoning was especially tasty.
Six crabs later, I was more than stuffed. My fingers, smelling intensely of crab, were covered in orange colored seasoning. The orangey powder had also somehow splattered all over my white skirt. Rule of thumb: don’t wear white when you eat crabs. Wadded up paper towels, crab uts,legs and shells covered the table. It was a mess, but one that was well worth it.
No crabhouse is “cheap,” but L.P. Steamers is a bit more reasonably priced than Obrycki’s, one of the more talked about crabhouses in Baltimore. If you’re looking for good crabs in an authentic, unpretentious setting, I’d definitely recommend L.P. Steamers.
My first Baltimore crab experience – a success!
Check out lpsteamers.com for more information
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