The Great Crab-Off
A most memorable day indulging in two iconic crab on Virginia’s Eastern Shore, plus deliciously multi-purpose Green Goddess dressing
“Are you the Cynthia who used to work at Simply Seafood magazine?”
It was a surprising message to get from the person I’d just booked a VRBO stay with for a trip that summer eight years ago. My nephew was getting married in Charlottesville, Virginia, and we figured it was a great opportunity to explore the state more after the family celebrations. We’d never been to the Eastern Shore, and I’m always, always interested in being near the sea, near seafood, so that became our plan. I randomly chose a great looking property that had a lovely setting on a small bay, and it mentioned having a small dock with a couple of crab pots on hand. Ding-ding-ding! With that, plans were underway.
Little did I know that there would end up being quite a crab feast while I was there. And not just of the local blue crab.
Around the time we were making these plans, I was over on Facebook having a mild rant (I’m not a big ranter, by nature) about a casual reference to Dungeness crab that I’d read in the Wall Street Journal. Accompanying a recipe, a Baltimore had declared, “Our [blue] crabs are the sweetest and most tender. By comparison, Dungeness doesn’t even rate.”
I’m sorry…..doesn’t even RATE?!?
So, I was in a pretty crabby (as in crab-oriented 😊) mood around that time.
By a wonderful stroke of serendipity, it just happened that the owner of that VRBO was Pamela Barefoot, founder of Blue Crab Bay Co. We’d often featured products from her company in the magazine way back when (I just learned today that she received a lifetime achievement award from the Specialty Food Association in New York last week!). As we caught up a bit before the trip, I brought up that comment about crab and before you know it, we’d dreamed up the plan to have a friendly crab-off while I was there.
Pamela invited Lorraine Eaton, food writer for the Virginian-Pilot newspaper, to join the fun. I ordered a few big, gorgeous Dungeness crab to be shipped there from Mutual Fish. Newspapers were spread out, lemons cut up, crab crackers assembled.
There was nothing left to do but dig in.
For starters, Lorraine and I each helped the other navigate to a prime bite from our “home” crab, to help the other appreciate distinctions right off.
As I wrote in a post for Seattle magazine after that experience:
“Lorraine kindly picked up one of the bigger blues and deftly went straight for the prime nugget of backfin meat. She handed it over and I took a bite. Delicate, tender and sweet, it brought to mind eating a scallop.
OK, I’ll give you this, Team Blue. That backfin lump meat is pretty tasty, particularly when a native expertly picks it for you.
Next, I pointed her toward one of the front legs of the Dungeness, noting they hold gloriously big pieces of prime meat. As she put a perfect, whole piece into her mouth, her eyebrows popped up. ‘Delicious, huh?,’ I said.”
And there we sat, with Pamela and our husbands joining in, cracking shells and picking crab meat over the course of a couple of hours.
Team Blue remained Team Blue, and I am still staunchly Team Dungeness. There was never an expectation to change anyone’s years-long commitment to their hometown crab.
The point was to have a little fun, and to have a delicious feast in the name of research and culinary appreciation. There is nothing like tasting two different types of the same food side-by-side to understand the character of each a bit better, whether that’s crab, salmon, apples, cheese, chocolate. A highly recommendable thing to do.
The tasting notes I left with were that blue have a more delicate, sweet flavor and Dungeness are a bit more complex, with some briny-nutty action in addition to a touch of sweetness. Any crab aficionados care to share their two cents in the comments below, I’ll be happy to see them!
The two crab are indeed quite different creatures, both delicious in their own way. With little fanfare, and lots of crab consumed, we opted to call it a draw that lovely afternoon on the Eastern Shore.
“Love the one you’re with,” is how my husband put it that day: whichever coast you’re on, that’s the crab to eat. I couldn’t agree more.
Green Goddess Dressing for Crab Salads or Sandwiches
This dressing is such a great starting point for any number of dishes and meals. In its traditional “dressing” form, use it to toss with or drizzle over a simple salad of great lettuce—or go all-in with favorite salad elements, such as tomato, avocado, radish, hard-cooked egg, thinly sliced fennel…all topped off with a generous mound of crabmeat!
Made a bit thicker, by reducing the vinegar to about 1 tablespoon, this makes an outstanding dip for vegetables or chilled shrimp. Or how about a twist on classic crab cocktail? Instead of cocktail sauce, spoon some green goddess on a decadent dish of crab meat. Here’s a zippy cocktail sauce, if you prefer to go that route.
And that thicker version becomes a fabulous thing to toss with crabmeat, making a quick crab salad to serve on a sandwich (regular or open-faced, solo or with arugula, avocado, sliced tomato, whatever suits your fancy), or spoon it onto endive leaves for an elegant snack, or put it in a bowl with a bunch of crackers around it for folks to serve themselves. Radishes at the store today were huge, making a radish slice another great option.
So many possibilities. All delicious. Thanks, green goddess!
2 green onions, chopped
2 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley
2 tablespoons chopped chives
2 teaspoons chopped tarragon
2 anchovy fillets, chopped
1 small clove garlic, pressed or minced
1/2 cup mayonnaise
3 tablespoons tarragon vinegar or white wine vinegar (less for a dip or to mix with crab meat)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Combine the green onions, parsley, chives, tarragon, anchovy, and garlic in a mini food processor and pulse until finely chopped, scraping down the sides once or twice. Add the mayonnaise and vinegar and continue processing until well blended and delicate green in color. Taste the dressing for seasoning, adding salt and pepper to taste (the anchovy may have contributed enough saltiness). If possible, make the dressing about an hour in advance, cover, and refrigerate to allow the flavors to meld.
Makes about 1 cup
For me, only Maine crabmeat will do, so when I’m in my island kitchen every summer, it’s a crab fest. Crab rolls, crab quiche, crab cakes, crab dip, crab fritters and yes, even crab mac and cheese!
Wow, what an incredible food adventure and delicious recipe to boot. Thank you for sharing!!