What is a Maryland blue crab?
The Maryland blue crab is the Atlantic blue crab harvested from the Chesapeake Bay and the coastal bays, and it is the centerpiece of Maryland seafood culture. It arrives two ways. Steamed whole in seasoning and eaten by hand at a paper-covered table, or picked into crab cakes, soup, dip, and imperial. Prices move with the season and the harvest, which is why menus list market price, and a steamed crab meal is a two-hour event rather than a quick dinner.
Also called: blue crab, blue crabs, steamed crabs.
How to eat a steamed crab
Pull the legs, lift the apron on the underside, open the top shell, clear the gills and viscera, snap the body in half, and work the meat out of the chambers. The claws take a mallet. It is messy and slow, by design. Anyone eating their first one should sit next to someone who has done it before, which is most of the room in a Maryland crab house.
Sizes, dozens, and bushels
Crabs are sold by size grade and by the dozen or the bushel. Larger grades cost significantly more and yield proportionally more meat. A dozen large crabs is a substantial meal for two or three people who are working at it, less for a group that also ordered corn, hush puppies, and beer.
Where the crabs come from
Not every crab served in Maryland is a Maryland crab; supply moves regionally and seasonally. Restaurants that source locally usually say so, and asking is a normal question rather than a challenge. The answer changes across the season as local harvest rises and falls.
Ordering crab as a group
Steamed by the dozen
Choose it when: Everyone is willing to work for dinner.
Tradeoff: Slow, messy, and priced at market.
Crab cake
Choose it when: You want the meat without the labor.
Tradeoff: A single course rather than an experience.
Crab soup or dip
Choose it when: Mixed group with children or reluctant pickers.
Tradeoff: Least representative of the tradition.
Current source: Ocean City Tourism food and drink. Fees, hours, posted rules: all of it moves without much notice, so confirm anything time-sensitive on the day you go.