Chesapeake summer doesn't need a fancy recipe. It needs blue crabs, corn, and a seasoning that isn't afraid to show up.
Crabby Politician was built for exactly this. Straight off the Cambridge docks, it's a savory coastal blend with a little heat, made for blue crabs, shrimp, oysters, whatever the water gives you that day. Two methods below: the Maryland way for crabs, which is steam, not boil, and the one-pot boil for everything else.
What you need
- A bushel or half bushel of live blue crabs, or 2 to 3 pounds of shrimp, shell on
- Crabby Politician, a lot of it
- Corn on the cob, small red potatoes, smoked sausage if you're feeding a crowd
- A tall steamer pot with a rack, or the biggest stock pot you own
- White vinegar, a can of cheap beer, newspaper for the table, mallets
The crabs: steam them, don't boil them
Blue crabs go in the water and they come out waterlogged and bland. Every crab house on the Shore steams. Pour an inch of liquid in the bottom of the pot, half water or beer and half vinegar. The vinegar softens the shells for picking. Set the rack in so the crabs sit above the liquid, not in it, and bring it to a rolling boil.
Layer the live crabs in, and hit every layer heavy with Crabby Politician. Don't be polite about it. Lid on tight.
Steam 20 to 30 minutes for a full pot, closer to 20 for a single layer. They're done when the shells have gone from blue-green to bright orange-red all the way through and the pot smells like the whole Bay. Pull them, dust once more while they're steaming, and dump them on the paper.
The boil: shrimp, corn, potatoes, sausage
Fill the stock pot two-thirds with water and season it heavy with Crabby Politician before anything goes in; the water should taste like the seasoning. Bring it to a hard boil.
- Potatoes first: 15 minutes total, so they go in alone
- Sausage and corn: in for the last 10 minutes
- Shrimp: in for the last 2 to 3 minutes, until they're pink and just curled. A minute too long and they're rubber.
Drain the whole pot, dump it on the table next to the crabs, and dust everything with more Crabby Politician while it's hot and wet enough to grab it.
Feed the crowd
No fancy plating. No dainty portions. Just a pile of food, cold drinks, and people you like sitting around it. That's the whole recipe, and it's the only one that matters this time of year. Grab a bottle of Crabby Politician and see what the fuss is about.