Boil Up

The bounty of a hard morning

I went fishing for blue crabs (Callinectes sapidus) yesterday with my friend Ray, an undergraduate student who is working for the lab over summer. In the 3:15 am darkness we left with high hopes for Rockefeller Wildlife Refuge, a popular fishing spot on the Gulf Coast, two and a half hours from Baton Rouge. We were using crab traps baited with chicken and a cast net, which I can now throw decently following a bit of practice. It was a great morning but sadly we didn't catch as much as we hoped - just six crabs and a couple of pounds of shrimp. Ray kept the shrimp for his family and I kept the crabs, boiling them up Louisiana style, with some vegetables and seasoning. It was my first time cooking crabs but they turned out great!

Six crabs makes a meal