Steamed Blue Crabs!

Steamed crabs are one of the best things about summer time! My family has steamed bushels of crabs for as long as I can remember. It was always a treat to go with my Dad to go get a bushel of crabs. He would always head down to a little seafood shop in our town. I used to love going to that place. They had a huge horseshoe crab hung on the wall that I was fascinated with every time we visited. In fact, that big horseshoe crab and some large blue crab shells was about all the place was decorated with, if you can call that decoration. There were a couple of glass enclosed display cases where they held fresh fish and other kinds of seafood and the smell during crab season was incredible. All you could smell in the place was the delicious aroma of blue crabs being steamed to perfection. My Dad always bought crabs "green," meaning living and ready to cook. One of my earliest memories is of my Dad paying a whopping $6.00 for a whole bushel of crabs! Nowadays, a bushel of live blue crabs in my area costs quite a bit more. It all depends on whether it's a holiday weekend and/or the available supply.

My Dad also took me "crabbing" on occasion too. We would take chicken necks, tie them to twine and toss them over the side of the dock. We would wait until we saw something tugging at the twine and then slowly pull the chicken neck upwards towards the surface of the water. When it got close enough, you could easily see if a crab was taking interest. If so, we would reach in under the water with a net and scoop out the crab. It was also during a crabbing trip that I had my first encounter with an electric fence. Someone who lived near the dock where we were crabbing had some cattle and a donkey. My Dad also raised cows and I grew up near a dairy farm so the cows weren't of much interest. But, I had never seen a donkey up close and I couldn't help but go over and try to pet it. Well, as I was scratching the top of the donkey's head, I inadvertently touched the fence which, unbeknownst to me at the time, was electrified. I quickly learned everything I ever wanted to know and much more about electric fences on that trip! I couldn't get in the water for the rest of the day because the residual electricity on my body made my legs tingle when they got wet.


Here is how my father taught me to cook blue crabs. If you ever get the chance to cook these little delicious morsels of goodness, please don't pass it up.

First, you will need a large pot to cook them in. I have used aluminum turkey fryer pots and stainless steel beer kegs that had the top cut off for my crab steamers. The pot I use now is the one my Dad gave me. It's a large stainless steal pot that has cooked so many bushels of crabs over the last more than 5 decades that I can't count them. You will also need a fire. My Dad used to sit two cinder blocks side by side with enough room between them to build a wood fire. He placed the crab steaming pot on the cinder blocks with the fire underneath. My neighborhood frowns on open fires, so nowadays I use a propane fueled burner. Whatever you are using as a pot, put it over whatever kind of fire source you have with about two inches of water in the bottom. Let the water come to a boil. Be careful when dealing with a large pot of boiling water! Once the water boils, I remove it from the fire so I can put the crabs in it. Now, I don't boil the crabs. I use a large perforated pizza pan with six inch bolts in it for legs that holds the crabs up above and out of the water in the bottom of the pot. This way, the crabs are steamed and not boiled.

Next, you will need some seasoning. Here is the recipe that we have used for decades. In a large bowl, thoroughly mix together:

2 Cups Old Bay Seasoning
2 Cups Fine Grind Black Pepper
2 Cups Table Salt.

Now, you need a bushel of living blue crabs. I like to put the crabs in the pot a few at a time and season them in layers. This also gives me the opportunity to look for dead crabs. Never, ever cook and eat a blue crab that is dead before you cook it. You have no idea how long it has been dead.

Once you have all the crabs in the pot, put a lid on it and put it back on the fire. When you see wiffs of steam coming from the lid, that means you have about 20 minutes for the crabs to be done. The best thing about this part of the cook is the smell! The fresh crabs cooking in the Old Bay and black pepper create a magic aroma that exclaims "It's summer time!"

After about 20 minutes, I like to remove a crab from the pot to test for doneness. I know they are done when they have all turned a bright orange color and the meat is tender and succulent.

When they are done, dump them on a picnic table covered with newspaper. My kids like to dip the meat in apple cider vinegar, so I serve that in little bowls on the side. I prefer my crabs straight up with no vinegar. And the best thing about eating freshly steamed blue crabs is the fact that you just can't eat them fast. Everyone has to sit around the table and it's a great time to converse with family and friends.

Grilled Bayou Salmon

Grilled Bayou Salmon

Salmon is a delicious and healthy treat. However, not all salmon are created equal. You can find wild caught and farmed salmon in markets and restaurants nowadays. What's the difference? First of all, farmed  fish are raised in hatcheries or open pen nets while wild salmon live in the wild and are caught by commercial fishermen. About 90% of all salmon sold in the U.S. today is farmed rather than caught wild. While salmon farming offers great potential to meet the global demand for high quality protein, there are some things about farmed salmon of which the consumer should be aware.

For example, the flesh of farmed fish can be grayish white in color. Therefore, farmed fish are fed artificial coloring that makes them pink. Also, farmed fish are often fed antibiotics and other chemicals. Further, farmed salmon can have higher concentrations of toxins than wild salmon because of the confined areas in which they are raised. There are also reports that wild salmon are more nutritious than farmed salmon and contain less "bad" fats than wild salmon. (PDF link)

A big problem is labeling. Tests performed for The New York Times in March of 2005 on salmon sold as wild by eight New York City stores, going for as much as $29 a pound, showed that the fish at six of the eight were actually farm raised which is available year round and sells for $5 to $12 a pound in the city when it's labeled correctly. The findings mirror suspicions of many in the seafood business that wild salmon could not be so available from November to March, the off-season, and the artificial coloring fed to farmed salmon make it even harder for the average consumer to tell the difference.

So, what's a person to do? Based upon EPA health standards, the Environment Working Group suggests limiting your intake of farmed salmon to one serving per month. They also recommend that it be prepared by broiling, baking, or grilling over frying. Did someone say grilling? While I prefer wild caught sockeye salmon, I like all salmon whether farmed or not and all of it has a place in my diet. I invite you to do some reading up on the subject and make up your own mind about the benefits and drawbacks of wild salmon versus farmed salmon.

This recipe for Grilled Bayou Salmon works for both wild and farmed fish. Here is what you need to get started:

Fresh Salmon Fillet
Todd's Bayou Dirt
Paul Prudhomme's Magic Salt Free Seasoning
Cayenne Pepper (optional)
Lemon Juice
Grill/barbecue smoker setup for indirect heat at 325 degrees F.

First, a word about the seasonings. Todd's Dirt is a line of delicious, gluten free spice and herb blends with just the right amount of salt. There are so many seasoning blends out there nowadays that have so much salt in them it's practically impossible to use them as a seasoning or rub for meat and seafood. You don't have that problem with Todd's Dirt rubs. The great thing about Paul Prudhomme's Magic Salt Free Seasoning is the fact that it's salt free. I prefer to control the amount of salt in my food and Magic Salt Free seasoning let's me do that.

1.) The skin was removed from the salmon fillet that I grilled. You don't have to remove the skin and some prefer to leave it on while grilling because it can help hold the fish together while it's cooking. I sprinkled the juice of half a lemon on each side of the salmon fillet. If the skin is still on your salmon, just season the side without skin.

2.) Once the lemon juice has been applied, I sprinkle on the seasonings. Use as little or as much as you prefer. I like to add cayenne pepper to mine too but that is optional.

 3.) Place the salmon (skin side down if the skin is on) in your grill or smoker that has been heated to 325 degrees F. Make sure there is no direct heat coming up under the salmon. Notice the smaller portions in the photo? I trimmed off the thinner portions of the fillet and cooked them separately because their thinner thickness will make them cook faster than the larger fillet.

4.) Close the lid on the grill/smoker and let the salmon cook until it reaches about medium rare to medium on the inside. This fillet took around 12 minutes to cook completely. Of course, the thinner pieces were done sooner. If you have to poke the thickest part with a fork and take a look at the flesh, that's fine. Just make sure you hit that magic level of doneness without over or under cooking the salmon.

5.) When the salmon is done, remove from the cooker, serve, and enjoy!

Zesty Grilled Shrimp Po' Boy

Zesty Shrimp Po' Boy

I had the pleasure of visiting New Orleans back in December of 2009. It was a very memorable trip. My wife and I were able to see much of the city and eat at several of the famous and not so famous New Orleans restaurants.

Corner of Bourbon and Canal Streets in
New Orleans

Bourbon Street, New Orleans, LA

While we were there the weather was cold and rainy. In fact, it was so rainy that there were several flood watches and fears that pumps throughout the city would fail. During much of our time there we couldn't walk outside without being literally soaked from head to toe.

A view from the Riverwalk in New Orleans

The food was good at some places and not so great at others. In fact, one of the most famous restaurants was quite a disappointment. The best places to eat, it seemed, were the smaller, lesser known restaurants found around the city.

One of the best known New Orleans foods is the Po' Boy sandwich. There are several accounts of how it was first introduced. There is the story of a restauranteur who fed transients outside his restaurant at night with sandwiches made of foods that were leftover from the day's cook. Then there is the story of how a former streetcar conductor turned restauranteur served his former colleagues free sandwiches during a strike against the streetcar company. And, there is also the story of one restauranteur who looked out of the window of his restaurant and saw a crowd of young men waiting in hope to be picked to work for the railroad that day. He remarked, "Look at all those po' boys!" He decided to create a large sandwich that would last a young man all day and sell it for just $.05 cents.

Regardless of how it came to be, the Po' Boy is a delicious addition to the culinary world. Here is my tribute to the New Orleans Po' Boy.

To make this zesty shrimp Po' Boy you will need:

1 French bread roll
Some fresh shrimp, peeled and deveined
2 TBS Tomato Ketchup
1TBS Hot sauce (Louisiana style or Sriracha)
1 Tomato, sliced
Salt & Pepper, as preferred
Lettuce or mixed salad greens
1 Spanish onion, sliced
1 TBS Mayonnaise (optional)
1/2 cup Olive oil
1 Jalapeno pepper, sliced
2 Cloves chopped garlic
Juice of 1 Lime
Worcestershire sauce

1.) Mix together olive oil, chopped garlic, lime juice, jalapeno pepper slices, salt, and black pepper. Reserve a small amount for basting later. Pour remaining marinade into a large resealable plastic bag with shrimp. Seal, and marinate in the refrigerator for about 2 hours.

2.) Make the zesty sauce. Mix 2 TBS ketchup, 1 TBS hot sauce, and a splash Worcestershire (careful, a little goes a long way). Mix well.

3.) Preheat your grill for medium-low heat. Either use a grill basket or just thread the shrimp on skewers. Discard the marinade.

4.) Lightly oil the grill grate. Cook shrimp for about 3 to 5 minutes per side or until opaque. The time will depend on the size of the shrimp and the temp of your grill. Be careful that you don't overcook the shrimp as it will become tough and chewy. Baste the shrimp with the reserved marinade while it's grilling. Remove shrimp from the grill when done.

5.) Split the french roll and lightly toast it on the grill.

6.) Put some greens on the bottom of the bread (see pic above) and place shrimp on top. Put the sliced tomato and sliced onion on the other half of the french roll. Top with the zesty sauce. Add some mayo to the roll at this point too, if you prefer.

Serve and enjoy!