Lightly Spiced Oriental-style Crab Soup

This weekend just gone has had a Crab Festival. Which means crabs EVERYWHERE at the festival and at $5 a crab I splurged and bought 16 of the things, figuring that oh, there'd be 3 spare at the end of it. Nuh-uh. I have 9 spare. 2 more went off to other people. What am I going to do with 7 crabs? Eat them, naturally, but shellfish has a short shelf-life, once it's thawed (by the time I'd gotten them home, yup they'd thawed) so... what to do with crab other than just ...eat it? I made a Crab Soup. Oriental style.

I was gonna show you a picture, but my camera is flat :(

How to Shell A Crab!

No real recipe! Just practicality. Today, I shall show you how to shell a crab so you can have fun eating the crustacean!

Step one: Have a whole crab.



Step two: Remove the legs and claws.





Step three: find the 'pull here' tag.



Step four: Pull the 'pull here' tag and use it to lever the upper portion of the crab away from the lower, splitting the shell in two. Discard upper shell.





Step uh, five: Locate the gills and remove them. They are poisonous!





Step six: Wash! Run the bottom of the crabs shell under water to wash away any remaining goopy bits and clean your hands too!



Step seven: Break lower shell of crab in half, tugging off any non-meat parts that are 'excess' on the lower shell, mainly around the back legs and where the 'pull here' tag was. Arrange on a plate if you like, or just dump it, get a pair of crab claw crackers, or nut crackers, and feast!



It is easiest if you break the grippy part of the claw, and use one of the pincers to hook and fish the meat out from inside the shell. Also, if you want to catch/cook your own crab, make sure it is -alive-. The gills rot incredibly quickly and will toxify the whole crab! Yes, it has to be dropped into boiling water alive and cooked for 15-20 minutes. ....Much easier, and nicer, if you buy your crab from someone who cooked it for you!

Deliciousness Delivered!