Fried crabs and garlic butter make for a tasty combo at the take-out counter
February 23 [Thu], 2012, 12:21
The girls at Fishnet Seafood are always smiling when I walk through their door. They're usually slinging fresh fish into big pots of boiling grease and bantering back and forth about some morsel of local gossip. And on any given day there's a steady supply of fresh whiting and croaker crackling with a crispy dredged batter. These offerings alone would make it worthy of a stop next time you happen by the Savannah Highway outpost, but the fried crabs ― and we mean whole fried hard crabs ― are a revelation to behold.
Most people I query have never heard of frying up hard crabs, but there's a smattering of places about town that do just that. It's a simple dish, but one honed with a deep local tradition, including fishmongers who do double duty as take-out kitchen cooks next to large baskets of live blue crabs. They are as delicious as they are hard to find. Fried crabs, as done in the Lowcountry, are not overly complicated. All you really need is hot grease, live crabs, and some seasoned flour to dredge them in. They've likely been in the local vernacular for some time. Basic riffs on the idea surround how the crab is cleaned before frying and whether you steam them ahead of time. The best are cleaned raw, dredged in flour, deep fried until golden and crispy, and served hot with a spicy garlic butter drizzled all over. Think fried shrimp and Alaskan crab legs all wrapped up in a garlicky, melted-butter heart attack.
Around Charleston, the dish seems to attract a decidedly African-American crowd, and North Charleston makes a strong case as an epicenter of fried crab cookery. There, only a few miles apart, you'll find Marvin's Seafood and Charlie Brown Seafood duking it out for the heavyweight title. Hop through the door of Marvin's on a busy Friday afternoon, and the folks will be 10-deep at the counter, jostling to get to the cash register that guards the grease and a thousand Styrofoam trays, stacked and ready for the hot, sizzling crustaceans. A full crab will set you back only $1.99.
Options are few, but secrets are closely guarded, mostly those associated with the sauces and their fiery heat. As one customer once told me, "My wife always cooks them at home, but she can't never get the spice right." And it's the spice that seems to divide devotees between Marvin's and Charlie Brown. All garlic butters are not created equally.
Most people I query have never heard of frying up hard crabs, but there's a smattering of places about town that do just that. It's a simple dish, but one honed with a deep local tradition, including fishmongers who do double duty as take-out kitchen cooks next to large baskets of live blue crabs. They are as delicious as they are hard to find. Fried crabs, as done in the Lowcountry, are not overly complicated. All you really need is hot grease, live crabs, and some seasoned flour to dredge them in. They've likely been in the local vernacular for some time. Basic riffs on the idea surround how the crab is cleaned before frying and whether you steam them ahead of time. The best are cleaned raw, dredged in flour, deep fried until golden and crispy, and served hot with a spicy garlic butter drizzled all over. Think fried shrimp and Alaskan crab legs all wrapped up in a garlicky, melted-butter heart attack.
Around Charleston, the dish seems to attract a decidedly African-American crowd, and North Charleston makes a strong case as an epicenter of fried crab cookery. There, only a few miles apart, you'll find Marvin's Seafood and Charlie Brown Seafood duking it out for the heavyweight title. Hop through the door of Marvin's on a busy Friday afternoon, and the folks will be 10-deep at the counter, jostling to get to the cash register that guards the grease and a thousand Styrofoam trays, stacked and ready for the hot, sizzling crustaceans. A full crab will set you back only $1.99.
Options are few, but secrets are closely guarded, mostly those associated with the sauces and their fiery heat. As one customer once told me, "My wife always cooks them at home, but she can't never get the spice right." And it's the spice that seems to divide devotees between Marvin's and Charlie Brown. All garlic butters are not created equally.
