Twice-dipped soft-shell crabs

1 Servings

Ingredients

Quantity Ingredient
1 cup Flour
1 cup Cracker meal
2 Eggs; beaten
¼ cup Beer
Cajun Seasonings
4 mediums Soft-shell crabs
Peanut Oil
Sliced tomatoes
Sliced Onions

Directions

Place cleaned soft-shell crabs on paper towels to absorb as much moisture as possible. Put flour and cracker meal on separate plates. Put beaten eggs and beer into a flat-bottomed bowl. Drink the rest of the beer while slaving over the hot stove. Season flour, cracker meal, and egg/beer mixture with cajun seasonings (or your favorite seasoning mix). Dredge crabs in flour and place on dry paper towels. Dip floured-crabs in egg/beer mixture and then in cracker meal. Make certain crab is covered, but shake loose meal off. Return to paper towels. After letting crabs rest for several minutes (5 - 8), redip in flour and cracker meal. While crabs are resting, heat oil (about ¼ inch) in a heavy pan ( we use cast iron pans for this kind of cooking) until a drop of water sizzles when it hits the oil. Carefully place the crabs, one at a time, in the hot oil. I usually only cook two or three at a time, making sure the legs are spread out in a nice pattern. When nicely browned on one side, carefully tun over and continue cooking. The crabs should come out crispy on the outside and moist in the main body. When finished, remove crabs from oil and place on new, dry paper towels to drain some of the oil. Continue cooking the rest of the crabs.

We ate these crabs tonight in sandwiches, with sliced vidalia onions, tomatoes, and mayo on rolls. They made great sandwiches, with the legs sticking out just like in the best seafood restaurants.

Note: Crabs shed their shells at least once a year and from then until they regrow a hardened shell, they are considered a delicacy. This is a fairly short time, so the crabs are often put in "shedders" where they are bathed in water and immediately removed when they lose their shells. Posted to TNT ~ Prodigy's Recipe Exchange Newsletter by "Art Guyer" <Beach_Bum@...> on Jul 17, 1997

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