Recipe: Soft Shell Crab with Caper Butter

Ugly to look at, delicious to eat: soft shell crab fried in flour/egg/cornmeal.

Soft shell crabs are blue crabs harvested during molting season. They have a mild crabby flavor and a pleasant crunch; it’s nice to just chomp into a crab instead of fighting the shell to get the flesh out. Here is a simple prep to eat on its own; you could also take the fried crab and stick it in a po’ boy roll. Allow 2 crabs per person; this recipe is for 8 crabs total.

Ingredients:
Soft shell crabs
1 c all purpose flour seasoned with salt, pepper and garlic powder
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 c cornmeal
2 T butter
2 T olive oil

For the optional caper butter:
2 T butter
2 T capers
2 T lemon juice

Method: pat the crabs dry then dredge in seasoned flour, then egg, then cornmeal. Sauté in butter and olive oil over moderate heat until lightly browned; flip over and repeat. Be careful of spatters because the crabs may contain pockets of water which will burst. Drain crabs on paper towel as they are cooked and reserve in a warm oven until serving time.

Ugly delicious soft shell crab with caper butter

To serve with caper butter after all crabs are cooked, add additional butter, capers and lemon juice to the pan and heat till sizzling; spoon over crabs on a serving plate and serve immediately.