A crab house is a restaurant that specializes in crabs. Throughout Maryland, and particularly on the coast, crab houses are notorious for their blue crab platters. Most crab houses are extremely casual, often with brown paper covered tables and buckets of steaming hot crabs. Crab houses and restaurants along the Chesapeake Bay serve blue crabs in a variety of ways. Crab soup, deep-fried she crabs, crab appetizers, and steamed hard-shell crabs are a few of the delicacies commonly listed on menus. Baltimore crab houses particularly are famous for their blue crab cakes.
Many Maryland online wholesalers will ship fresh Maryland blue crabs and other seasonal seafood directly to your door. You can order whole crabs live or steamed. Lump crab meat, prepared crab cakes and crab soups are also often available. The authenticity and food safety precautions of any web vendor should be verified before purchasing, but a large number of Maryland fishermen operate wildly successful interstate and even international shipping businesses.
Summer festivals throughout Maryland are a terrific place to find blue crabs. From Havre de Grace down to Tilghman Island, there is rarely a warm weekend without a crab festival or feast. The two biggest crab festivals are in Baltimore and Annapolis. These include all you can eat crabs, crab soup, Maryland corn on the cob and other picnic trimmings.
When it comes to fresh seafood, there is no better place for the non-fisherman to look than a seafood market. Maryland fishermen usually deliver their catches to seafood markets days before the same crabs hit retail grocery stores. Some markets, such as the Annapolis Seafood Market, also have experts on staff who can explain the crab grading system, how to steam and how to pick the crabs, and other cooking and eating tips. They can also tell you the best season for buying blue crabs, and how to spot a good purchase.
