"crab" news and stories

Crab cakes are a favorite food of many seafood lovers. They are made with crab meat that is bound together with a small amount of filler then fried (or baked) until crisp. There are a huge number of variations on the basic cake, but the most important ingredient is, of course, the crab. Summer is typically considered to be crab season, but thanks to frozen and imported meats, crab cakes are available to most people year-round. The question is not whether you can get them, but whether they are worth getting. The week, the Wall Street Journal's Catalogue critic asked that very question and taste-tested five kinds of mail-order crab cakes.

All the cakes had to be cooked at home before serving and all but one was shipped pre-formed. The top choices were Philips Seafood and Chesapeake Bay Crab Cakes and More, which came in first and second with only the narrowest of margins deciding the winner. Third place was the Cadillac Crab Cake Co., the company that shipped the crab cakes unformed in a "loaf," allowing you to shape them according to your preferences.

The biggest drawback is that not only are the cakes expensive, but shipping is pricey, too, so keep that in mind when you decide you want a crab cake or three in the dead of winter.

Sawagani crabs are usually served flash fried, but at two sushi restaurants in Orange County, CA, a few diners started a tradition where, after having a few drinks, they would reach into a jar of live crabs and eat them raw as their friends cheered them on.

Aside from the immediate gross "Fear Factor"-ness of eating something while it's still alive, eight diners felt the repercussions six to 10 weeks later. The live crabs were carrying a parasite that migrates from the intestines to the lungs. The resulting disease is the lung fluke infection, which manifests itself as coughing, diarrhea, breathing problems, abdominal pain, fever and hives. If the infection is left untreated, "it can turn into a very serious lung infection or, in fact, impact the brain," according to Deanne Thompson from Orange County Health Care Agency.

My two year old nephew seemed bored with his usual baby gruel, so I thought I'd whip up a little something. The crab apples shown are peaking here (6800 ft.) and the trees are about 15 years old. The fruit is not too tart, and the meat is the consistency of a Bartlett pear. I picked this cluster and about 30 other apples, and made him some sauce as follows:

• Pick 50 crab apples, de-stem, remove fur from opposite end of stem with a swipe across a cheese grater, rinse.
• Blanche the apples, three minutes, or so. Using a potato masher, make a mash, but don't overdo it as you don't want the core and bitter seeds to get too crushed (you'll get a bit o' seed oil, no worries).
• Spoon about one cup at a time through a medium mesh strainer, making sure to get as much pulp through without too much peel, seed, or core. Repeat, trying isolate the unwanted bits by hand. This is a labor of love, mind you, and time well spent with the kids on a seasonal activity. The resulting mash yielded about four cups.
• It began to oxidize rapidly so I put 1/2 teaspoon lime juice in, and one tablespoon brown sugar.

The mash was distinctly homemade: a bit watery, but very tasty. I would put cinnamon in it for myself, but not the toddler. Also, I've been told not to sweeten baby foods with honey for fear of botulism...but this kid is two. Next year I will use honey. You'll wind up with a one-off, that is, if you freeze this sauce it will be a tasteless, separated mess when thawed.

Fall is here in the high country. "Eat your view".

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Whole Foods markets will no longer sell live lobsters and soft-shelled crabs on the grounds that it is an inhumane practice. The company spent months studying the conditions that lobsters experienced en route from the sea to the shopper. They tried to make the lobsters as comfortable as possible, but ultimately concluded that "they could not ensure the creatures [were] treated with respect and compassion."

Whole Foods pointed to a European study that said lobsters can feel pain like humans and animals, but the scientific community is divided over to what degree a lobster's fairly primitive nervous systems actually feel.

The lobster industry isn't concerned with this decision. 25% of all lobsters are sold live and they feel strongly that consumers who want live lobsters will still seek them out.

PETA and other animal rights groups are thrilled with the decision, but seem to have missed the fact that the market will still carry frozen raw and cooked lobster products. The lobsters are still being killed, but they won't be boiled by Whole Foods shoppers.

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When one sets out to create a list, it is important to set standards. What criteria will be used to rule out inappropriate items? Why is this item on the list in the first place? The BBC's list of the top 50 things to eat before you die seems to be lacking some of these standards. Apparently, viewers and readers voted on food items, which were narrowed to a field of 50 based on the number of votes received. The top 10 were:

1. Fresh fish
2. Lobster
3. Steak
4. Thai food
5. Chinese food
6. Ice cream
7. Pizza
8. Crab
9. Curry
10. Prawns

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