[Sca-cooks] period crab recipes

[Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius]

On Jun 18, 2006, at 9:45 AM, Elaine Koogler wrote:

> Craig Jones wrote:
>> Assumptions:
>> •	A small amount of salt was added to the steamed mix as I'm a salt
>>       fiend...
>> •	Blue Swimmer Crabs were used as the closest substitute to Charibdys
>>       japonica available.
>>
>> What was ironic was it wasn't until after I traveled to the Barony of
>> Ildhafn (Auckland, New Zealand - go visit - play SCA where the  
>> geographic
>> backdrops are straight out of LOTR) did I discover that Charibdys  
>> japonica,
>> although impossible to find in Australia, is a serious pest in  
>> Auckland
>> Harbour... Doh!
>>
>>
>>
> Thanks for sending this.  Out of curiousity...how well would the
> Chesapeake Bay Blue Crab fit into this category.  I have no idea what
> the scientific name is, but it's primo for making things like crab
> cakes, crab soup and she-crab soup, all very famous in this area.
>
> Kiri

Here's some info on the zoology of the Eastern blue-claw crab, common  
and famous in the Chesapeake Bay but found around most of the Eastern  
US coast :

http://www.dnr.state.md.us/fisheries/education/crab/bluecrabfacts.html

And here's a page on Drakey's charybdis japonica:

http://www.fish.govt.nz/sustainability/biosecurity/pests/ 
crab_japonica.htm

It seems as if they're roughly comparable in size, with the largest  
of the japonicas being slightly smaller than the largest of the blue- 
claw crab (I'm using this term because it's the one I grew up with,  
and to distinguish it from the crab species Drake referred to as a  
blue swimmer crab -- blue-claw crabs are also blue and have swimming  
paddles).

Adamantius (hmmmmm... promised crustaceans for Father's Day dinner...)