Crab Recipes and Cooking Information

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Crabs

Part 1: He-crab, she-crab, it...does it matter?

More of this Feature

• Part 1: Crab history and genders
• Part 2: Crab and cancer research
• Part 3: Crab Recipes

Related Resources

• Peekytoe Crabs
• Crab Varieties
• Crab Terms
• Lobsters
• More Seafood
• A to Z Recipes and Food

Recipes

• She-Crab Soup
• Crab Gumbo
• Crab Pilaf
• Cioppino
• Crab Cakes
• More Crab Recipes
• Main Recipe Index

Related Cookbooks

• The Compleat Crab and Lobster Book
• All About Blue Crabs : And How to Catch Them
• Bob Chinn's Crab House Cookbook
• Eat at Joe's : The Joe's Stone Crab Restaurant Cookbook
• More Cookbooks

Crab is available in fresh, frozen and canned forms year-round. Take a look at deeper look at crabs and learn to distinguish females from males, a Dungeness from a blue, and why some of those shells are soft. Then experiment with many different crab recipes.

Crab history
Crabs are of the order Decapoda and cover a large variety of different crustaceans. The word crab comes from the Middle English. Of course, the crab is one of the oldest species on earth. The horseshoe crab dates back over 200 million years and is literally a living fossil. Most people are aware of the zodiac sign of Cancer, named for the constellation which resembles the shape of a crab. The majority of edible crabs have five pairs of legs, with the front legs being larger pinchers. Out of the 4,400 varieties of crab, most are found in North America in both salt and fresh water. Second only to shrimp in shellfish popularity, the world is fiercely proud of the crab recipes which spotlight the type of crab most-prized in their region.

There are many varieties of crabs. Check this handy crab reference chart for a visual and text description of the different types along with other crab terms you may come across in your culinary endeavors.

He-crab, she-crab, it...does it matter?
(female crab graphic) (male crab graphic) Many recipes specify she-crabs, so you'll need to be able to tell females from males. Luckily, this is easy to do, and you won't need a magnifying glass. Simply look at the underside of the crab. As you will see from the graphic, the female has a broad, triangular-shaped area in the center of the shell, whereas the male has a distinctive, elongated spire in the center.