Beer Versus Wine – The Soft Shell Crab Pairing
Congratulations to August’s Beer Versus Wine Challenge winner – The Wandering Sheppard! Part of the honor includes coming up with September’s challenge. Participants have until next Tuesday, September 9 to turn in their suggestion before we take it to a vote. Winner gets to present October’s challenge. For more on the rules, click here.
“You want me to do what?” I asked the fisherman behind the counter.
When I decided to choose Soft Shell Crab for the monthly beer and wine pairing, I actually learned more about what I was eating. During the summer months, it seemed soft shell crabs were on the menu everywhere. So I thought I could scan my local seafood restaurant, order soft shell crab, snap a few pictures, and begin writing.
It was late August when I made the decision and found soft shell crab was not as available as I thought. What I learned was the window for soft shell crab season is from May through September. I also found out that soft shell crabs are not a species, but a period when blue crabs go through a phase where their shells are soft (I started to read the marine biologist explanations, but my stomach kept interrupting). So I had to actually introduce a food pairing that I had to cook.
What is Your Perfect Beer or Wine Pairing With Soft Shell Crab?
In Raleigh, we have Local Seafood, a local seafood market that buys from North Carolina fisherman and sells at the Raleigh State Farmers Market. I happened to be checking my Twitter feed when I saw they advertised having soft shell crab available. Grateful that fate was pointing toward this pairing, my wife and I headed for the Farmers Market. I’m cooking these for the first time, so I had no idea what to expect at Local Seafood’s counter. First, I’m asked do I want Live or Frozen. As someone who enjoys food, I wanted to lean toward Live. But the fisherman explained buying Live means cleaning and prepping the crab. I was confused on the prep, because you eat the whole crab when they are soft shell. This is when the fisherman explains that I have to clean the crab and cut the face off. “You want me to do what?” as I turn to my wife with a confused and worried look.
The fisherman turns a quick smile and walks me over to where the live crabs are. He picks one up to show the face and explains what I have to do. The things you have to do for fresh seafood! Regardless of the species, cleaning fish is not my thing. Even the thought of filleting off the skin or deveining shrimp makes me cringe. So we bought a few frozen crabs and headed home. I think the fisherman was a little disappointed because he probably imagined the comedic episode of my wife and I attempting to take the crabs face off.
Please Don’t Cut My Face Off!!!
The easiest way to cook soft shell crab is to fry them in a skillet. It’s a smörgȧsbord of flavor all up in it. Before we drop the crabs in some heated oil, my wife set up our breading station as I began thawing and patting the crab dry. We used House-Autry Chicken Breading with some Old Bay mixed in, diluted egg wash, and panko. While the pictured finished product won’t win any awards (at least awards your mom will brag about), the crust was pretty tasty with a slight kick and the frying kept the crab juicy. Even though the crabs were frozen, I still taste salt water remnants from where they were caught. We actually bought too much and cooked them all, which turned out okay – leftover crabs make great sandwiches or omelet ingredients, as suggested by the fisherman at the market.
Whether you fry soft shell crab at home or order them in restaurants, what is your favorite beer or wine pairing?
Love soft shell crabs as a coastie I always welcomed the season!
Do you have a favorite beer or wine that you sip with them?
CUT THE FACE OFF???!! Uh, no thanks!!! Did you get them at the Yorkmount Farmer’s market??
Umm… someone needs to work on their attention to detail. We’ll talk about this over drinks tomorrow night… 🙂 Art wrote this post and he bought them at the Raleigh State Farmers Market.
I can remember as a naive 16 year old, I ordered Soft Shell Crab. I thought I was being so adventurous and sooooo mature. I had no idea I had to actually eat the shell. There is a picture floating around some where of the horrified look on my face when I bit into the crab and the shell crackled. I didn’t know if I should spit it out or suffer through and swallow, and I was to young to guzzle down any type of alcohol to remove the taste of the delicacy. I do remember I went home hungry that night, after refusing to eat anymore of the crabby things. I will say my mother absolutely loved soft shell crabs and ordered them anytime they were in season and on the menu.
Being land-locked in New Mexico, I haven’t had to worry about ordering the lit’l guys since. We don’t find them on the menu much.
I happen to love them. The most recent I had was a soft shell crab sandwich from room service at a Sheraton in Norfolk. I was skeptical as the same hotel kitchen once served me raw chicken (not an acceptable for of tartare, sushi, or carpaccio). They blew it out of the water (I realize the seafood reference) with the soft shell crab. I could have at ten.
So I’m guessing you don’t have a suggestion for this month’s pairing challenge?
Though I think SS Crabs are a good choice for this month’s paring, especially for you coastal boys, any suggestion I make would be store bought and that’s not fair. I’m think Talkavino has it right and his Albarino would be a great pairing. And definitely count me in for voting.
Wine. I would go with Albariño from Spain – Albariño comes from the region called Rias Baixas, which has a lot of marine influence from the Atlantic Ocean. The wine is generally bright with good acidity, and sometimes even shows the “salt water”, savory notes.
Hmm… You got me thinking for my suggestion. I like the Spanish idea as their cuisine is so seafood forward. A distributor sent me a case of Spanish cidres which have honestly intimidated me. I might have to delve in this weekend and fry up some crabs!
Soft shell crab sushi (a hand-roll of course) with a chilled dry gruner veltliner. Delicious!
Isn’t soft shell crab so versatile? Sushi, a sandwich, fried, coconut crusted…
Definitely! I’ve never tried it in a sandwich but that’s something to add to the (very long) list…
I think we all are disappointed that you didn’t go with the live crabs! It would have been a story for everyone.
This post was written by a reader. I would have gone with the live crabs and would have had a hell of a story to recant. As a famished foodie, what beer or wine would you pair with soft shell crabs?
Ah! Missed that fact that it was written by someone else!
As a Maryland girl, we grew up thinking beer is the only acceptable beverage to pair with crabs. I’d go for a nice, cold IPA, maybe Langunitas.
Good choice! These posts are all written by the previous month’s Beer Versus Wine challenge winner. So, if you win the vote, then you get to write next month’s challenge.
Hello there! Thank you for sending me an email about this interesting challenge. I find wine a tough match with soft shell crab, somehow in my past experience, the aftertaste can be sort of fishy. As I had some really good Sake over the weekend, I have a specific Sake in mind that I believe will go very well. Mildly sweet with some interesting notes of rock melon and fresh but mellow cedar (we were not drinking from a cedar cup). It was perfect with a tonkatsu (breaded pork chop), grill fish head with sea salt and ebi tempura roll. But since Sake is outside the perimeter of choice…so I think beer will be better, preferably a Yebisu. Is this alright?
Sake is more than an acceptable answer! Heck, I was going to suggest a Spanish Cidre….
Hi, I wrote a short post about matching Soft Shell Crab and Sake. http://asueba.wordpress.com/2014/09/12/savoured-one-year-heavenly-dog-dance-sake/