# Talk to me. Of small seafoods and soups **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 2, 2007, 9:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/talk-to-me-of-small-seafoods-and-soups/410212 "2007-07-02T09:48:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2007, 9:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/talk-to-me-of-small-seafoods-and-soups/410212/1 "2007-07-02T09:48:27Z")
As some of you will no doubt have realised, I like to eat things, particularly things I can gather or catch for free. I’m thinking of expanding my experience in this regard by eating [shore crabs](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shore_crab). I can easily catch these by the bucketload within walking distance of my home (and in clean, safe waters) - for the most part, they’re not big enough to cook and serve in their shells as whole crab, but I understand it’s quite possible to make a good soup of them - I’ve certainly seen smaller crabs than I will typically catch offered for sale in Spanish fish markets (they were different species, but still very small) So my question is this: When you make crab bisque (or indeed any seafood soup, starting with smallish fish and shellfish), is the whole notion of _cleaning_ obsolete? I remember seeing Rick Stein make stock from very small fish cooked whole without gutting or scaling, so I guess it’s just one of those things you try not to think too hard about when you’re eating them (like ‘deveining’ shrimp - sometimes people don’t bother). But with crabs, the gills (‘dead men’s fingers’) are supposedly not to be eaten - but if I’m making a soup or stock from small whole crabs, they’re going to be impossible to separate out and anyway, when people eat soft-shell crabs, they’re eating the whole thing, presumably uncleaned and unpurged anyway, aren’t they? ---
**Author:** ![MerryMagdalen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c2a13f/32.png) [@MerryMagdalen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MerryMagdalen)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2007, 10:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/talk-to-me-of-small-seafoods-and-soups/410212/2 "2007-07-02T10:06:51Z")
I think looking up some recipies for gumbo might serve you well. I’ve had some with various crab parts. I’m no seafood expert, but people that cook gumbo seem to be. ---
**Author:** ![Sierra\_Indigo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f0a364/32.png) [@Sierra\_Indigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sierra_Indigo)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2007, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/talk-to-me-of-small-seafoods-and-soups/410212/3 "2007-07-02T10:18:45Z")
From the book of Rick himself - [Shore Crab Bisque](http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/database/shorecrabbisque_5490.shtml). The recipe itself calls for cooking the crabs whole, chopping, removing the claws then pureeing in a food processor and pushing through a sieve - no cleaning, no removing bits apart from the claws. I guess it’s the “Try not to think about what’s in here” School of thought. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2007, 10:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/talk-to-me-of-small-seafoods-and-soups/410212/4 "2007-07-02T10:25:48Z")
I guess if we were to think about it, we’d probably comfort ourselves with notions that crabs have quite compact digestive systems and that at any one time, there’s probably not a massive digestive load in there - in other words, _you don’t have to eat too much poo_. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2007, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/talk-to-me-of-small-seafoods-and-soups/410212/5 "2007-07-02T11:52:48Z")
Yeah, and I’d guess that they shit themselves when they get caught, as well. I know I would… 😃 There was a thread here a few weeks back where they were talking about some Spanish dish that contained very small crabs whole or something… ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2007, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/talk-to-me-of-small-seafoods-and-soups/410212/6 "2007-07-02T11:56:29Z")
I can’t help you with the shore crabs, but I can tell you that the gills and mouth parts of soft-shell Atlantic blue crabs are usually [removed before cooking.](http://www.bluecrab.info/cleaning_softs.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2007, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/talk-to-me-of-small-seafoods-and-soups/410212/7 "2007-07-02T11:58:13Z")
[QUOTE=An Arky] There was a thread here a few weeks back where they were talking about some Spanish dish that contained very small crabs whole or something… [/QUOTE] That would be me, but I don’t think I got any definitive answer on it. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2007, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/talk-to-me-of-small-seafoods-and-soups/410212/8 "2007-07-02T12:00:00Z")
[QUOTE=Crotalus] I can’t help you with the shore crabs, but I can tell you that the gills and mouth parts of soft-shell Atlantic blue crabs are usually [removed before cooking.](http://www.bluecrab.info/cleaning_softs.htm) [/QUOTE] Thanks - that’s quite useful, as shore crabs are quite similar. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2007, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/talk-to-me-of-small-seafoods-and-soups/410212/9 "2007-07-02T12:24:53Z")
I’ve heard of storing crabs in a bucket of sea water for several hours before cooking them, presumably so they empty their digestive tract out. Is this a common approach? Daniel ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2007, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/talk-to-me-of-small-seafoods-and-soups/410212/10 "2007-07-02T12:44:36Z")
Certainly I’ve heard of people doing that with other crustaceans, molluscs too. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2007, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/talk-to-me-of-small-seafoods-and-soups/410212/11 "2007-07-15T22:10:12Z")
Well, I tried eating the shore crabs today and they were pretty good. Details here: [http://www.atomicshrimp.com/eat](http://www.atomicshrimp.com/eat)