Pick a crab like a pro

Picking crabs is like lots of things in life; you can do it the hard way or the easy way.

The easy way starts by removing the large claws and eating them or setting them aside. Turn the crab over and lift the key to the body. It’s long and skinny on males and wider on females. Remove the hard outer shell and yes, you can eat the green stuff — internal organs — but lots of folks don’t. Remove the fuzzy gills, which are not edible.

To attack the body meat, leave the legs and back fin attached and break the body in half lengthwise. Now, here’s a trick. Squeeze the body near where the back fin attaches as you wiggle and twist the back fin as you remove it. Often, the largest piece of lump crab slides out of the body still attached to the back fin. Do the same squeeze-and-wiggle procedure with the legs. Lastly, knife out the remaining body meat.