If you grew up on the water, as my husband, Tom, did, your love affair with crabmeat started early. Whether you had your own crab traps off the end of your dock or your family bought fresh crabmeat from a local market, you came to understand at an early age that crabmeat was special. It wasn't something you had everyday, and it might even mean company was coming.
We have blue crabs here, Atlantic blue crabs to be specific, the same ones they have all around the Gulf Coast as well as up and down the Atlantic. They're small; it takes about three crabs to make a pound, and you don't get much meat out of that pound. I'm told that even an experienced crab picker can get only a little over two ounces of meat per pound of crabs. It is a laborious endeavor, but those delicate morsels are so very, very worth it.
