How to Grill Soft-Shell Crabs

METHOD: Direct grilling

A soft-shell is a blue crab that has just shed its shell (crabs molt periodically so they can grow). It’s particularly sweet and juicy in this stage, and you eat it shell and all. This may sound a little creepy, but it’s like eating the sweetest imaginable crab between two really good potato chips. Traditionally, soft-shells are panfried, but grilling produces a crisp, succulent crab with a wonderful live-fire flavor. The only remotely tricky part is cleaning the crab, a process that can be traumatic for some people. I describe it in lurid detail, but you can always ask your fishmonger to clean the crabs for you, instead.