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Friday, July 3, 2009

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Bring on the land crabs "Rain, rain go away" . . . wait a minute — hold that chant right there, because I certainly don't want the rain to go anywhere — it's needed for the land crabs to emerge from their holes to be caught and sold on street corners to the delight of persons like myself who love themselves some crab 'n' rice and boiled crab. So rather than it raining men, I just want it to rain so that the crabs can "walk." The soggy conditions around the country due to the rain deluge of the past week has left most people miserable, but it has brought a smile to my face. Actually, two weekends ago, my husband David had requested peas 'n' rice for Sunday dinner — a side dish which isn't prepared too often in our house. I made it for him, but refused to have any because I was saving my tummy for crab season which was soon too come, and I could envision the steaming hot mound of crab 'n' rice that I would indulge in. Yep, the rainy season is a time of year I look forward to because I know I'll be enjoying dishes made with land crabs, which I do love to eat. But the one thing that has me perplexed is this marketing ploy that's been adopted by the Androsians in the past few years, and that is the notion that they can prepare land crab 101 different ways. To test that theory I even made a trip to their annual crab fest a few years back, and only saw I guess about 20 ways. Besides the regular crab 'n' rice and boiled crab and dough, and stuffed, baked crab, there were things on the menu like crab fritters, crab pizza, curry crab — things I would have liked to try, but every time I looked to purchase the dish, the vendor would say it hadn't gotten there yet, so that was where my skepticism developed. I had traveled to the island with the express purpose of trying some crab dishes that were out of the ordinary, but couldn't. I asked an Andros native to come up with 101 ways, and she tried her best, as she spoke to me about crab cakes, crab escovetich, crab thermidor, jerk crab, crab soufflé, buttered crab and steamed crab, but after that she was stumped. She went for the save by saying any way you can prepare any meat, you can do with crab. I just gave her the stare. So while I can't vouch for those 101 claims by Androsians, I know one thing — crab 'n' rice and boiled crabs — are two dishes I'm going to enjoy while the rains are here. Now there's only one thing, I wish I could do, and that is do a mean boiled crab like my mom Jestina. No matter how much I watch her, or how many times I ask what seasonings she uses, and she tells me, my boiled crabs are never as finger lickin' good as hers are. So you know it's a treat during this time of year to walk into her house on a Saturday and find a pot of crabs on the stove. I always steal one or two, pop them open and sit down to enjoy. Now don't get me wrong, there's no rocket science to boiling a crab, but when my mom does it, it's just always right. So I tip my hat to my mom in this regard. Everything else — she's got to tip her hat to me — because even though she was the first person to introduce me to the kitchen, my mom frequently has to call me up now to ask about how did I do this or how did I do that, or what's my secret to the next thing. And it's not that I'm a better cook than she is, it's for the simple fact that I love to read about all things food, I ask questions of professionals and I experiment. I'm not afraid to try something and fail. While I feel sorry for those people who don't eat crabs, I say the more for me. Actually . . . one year I'd even stayed away from eating crabs after a former boss — Anthony Capron — and yes I'm calling names, grossed me out as he spoke about the crab's dietary habits. A year later, I was over that, because once you feed your crabs fruit, they're a-okay. And after a whole year of doing without, I just couldn't do without the taste of a good ole' boiled crab and crab 'n' rice. So while you may be lamenting the rains, I welcome it, because it means the streets will be littered with this crustacean in the weeks to come, so I need to eat my fill before the season ends. Bring on the crabs! Wednesday, June 3, 2009