Ask your fishmonger to clean the crabs for you, because though the process is a quick and easy one, it’s not for the squeamish. There’s not much cooking here. Sometimes crabs spatter, so it’s best to fry them in oil that’s not smoking hot.
Ingredients
- 1 12- to 16-inch-long loaf supermarket French- or Italian-style bread, or 2 smaller loaves
- 1 egg
- 1 cup milk
- ½ cup cornmeal
- ½ cup flour
- ½ teaspoon cayenne, or more
- Salt
- Neutral oil, like corn or grapeseed, as needed
- 2 large soft-shell crabs, cleaned
- For garnish: mayonnaise, lettuce, tomato, hot sauce or lemon.
2 servings
Preparation
- Heat oven to 350 degrees. Split bread in half and remove some of the soft white crumb with your fingers. Toast bread lightly in oven, about 10 to 15 minutes.
- Beat egg and milk together in a bowl; combine the cornmeal, flour, cayenne and a large pinch of salt on a plate. Put about 1/4-inch of oil in a deep skillet broad enough to accommodate crabs, and turn heat to medium. When oil is hot — a pinch of flour will sizzle — dip crabs in milk-egg mixture, then dredge in the cornmeal-flour mixture. Put in skillet; adjust heat so crabs bubble gently but not furiously in oil.
- When bottom is nicely browned, 3 to 5 minutes, turn crabs and brown other side; crabs will be quite firm when done.
- Serve on toasted bread, garnished as you like.
30 minutes
Dining and Cooking