Hard-shell Crabs.—The common blue crab is the species of the crab family which we are most familiar with. We remember how rapidly they darted away from us when we pointed the net towards them, when on our summer vacation. We also have vivid recollections of their anxiety to shake hands with us when in captivity.

Hard crabs are to be had during almost the entire season, and the average price asked for them is $3.00 per hundred. Those found in market in winter were raked out of the mud, where they had buried themselves until the advent of warm weather.

Select a dozen hard crabs, and rinse them well in fresh water. Have ready a kettle two-thirds full of boiling water, slightly salted; plunge them into it, and boil them for about twelve minutes; drain, and when cool put them in the ice-box to become cold.

After the theatre, return home for supper, instead of patronizing the restaurant, and serve the crabs with sandwiches of buttered bread. A light sauterne may be served with them, if not objected to.

Crab Patties, Cream Sauce.—Roll out a pound of light puff-paste, half an inch in thickness. Cut it into rounds with a cake-cutter two inches in diameter. Press a small cutter one inch in diameter, on each round, one-fourth of an inch deep. Place them on a buttered tin, brush a little beaten egg over them, and bake in a quick oven. When done, remove the centre, and a little of the inside.

Put into a saucepan half an ounce of butter, half an onion minced, half a pound of minced raw veal, and a small carrot shredded. Toss about for two or three minutes to fry, but not to color; then add two tablespoonfuls of flour. Mix it well with the other ingredients, and add three pints of hot water, a pint of boiling cream, half a teaspoonful of salt, and a saltspoonful of white pepper. Simmer one hour, and strain into a saucepan. Add to each pint of it half a gill of warm cream. Place back on range again, and simmer until reduced enough to coat the spoon, then strain into a crock, and whisk until it is cold. This is done to prevent the formation of a thick top. At this season of the year this is an excellent sauce to have on hand for patties, white fish sauces, and also for meat sauces. When wanted for patties, melt an ounce of butter. While whisking it, gradually add a pint of the sauce. Mix it with a quart of prepared crab-meat, obtainable at the grocer’s. When hot, fill the shells with it.

Soft-shell Crabs.—When the blue crab is desirous of increasing his growth, he sheds his shell, and for a short period is perfectly helpless. The male usually retires to a secluded spot out of the reach of eels and other enemies, but the female soft shell is protected by a male companion whose shell is hard. At Sheepshead Bay these are called elopers or double crabs. As the tide changes, the soft shell begins to harden, when it is called “paper-shell,” shedder, or feeler. Before reaching its normal condition, the crab is called a buckler, and is only used as bait.

The Care of Soft Crabs.—Soft crabs require delicate handling and much care. They deteriorate rapidly after leaving the water, and are often killed in transit by the sudden jarring of the train. If a little care is exercised, they may be kept alive from six to ten days. First select vigorous crabs, remove them from the crate, and give them a bath in water slightly salted. Clean the crate thoroughly, renew or wash the seaweed which accompanies them. Strew over the bottom of the crate a layer of the seaweed, and place the crabs in the crate in layers, faces upward with side spines touching each other, and alternated with layers of seaweed. When the crate is full, cover it with more seaweed, sprinkle salt water over all, and set the crate in a dark, cool place. Sprinkle salt water over them from day to day, and renew the bath and fresh sea-tangle about every other day. Treated this way, they will keep in the hottest weather. One of the principal objects in covering them with seaweed is to keep the light from them. Sudden flashes of lightning, if seen by them, would frighten them to death. Their sensitive organization cannot even stand the rumbling of thunder, and they should be stored away where they cannot hear it distinctly. The only care required in cleaning them for the table is to remove the feathery gill-like formations under the side spines, and the sand-pouch. Soft crabs are too delicate morsels to cover with batter.

Crabs, Soft-shell.—These should be cooked as soon as possible after being caught, as their flavor rapidly deteriorates after being exposed to the air. Select crabs as lively as possible; remove the feathery substance under the pointed sides of the shells; rinse them in cold water; drain; season with salt and pepper; dredge them in flour, and fry in hot fat.

Many serve them rolled in eggs and cracker-dust; but thus they are not as good.

Crab Croquettes.—Take one pound of crab-meat; gently press out the juice, and put it in a bowl with a tablespoonful of fine crumbs, half a teaspoonful of salt, half a saltspoonful of pepper, a dash of anchovy essence, the yolks of two eggs, and a very little cold water. If the eggs are not enough to make it the proper consistency, bind the ingredients together, and place on ice until wanted; then work into corks or cone-shaped forms, dip them in beaten egg, then in crumbs, and fry in hot fat.

Crab Patties, À la Bechamel.—Prepare the shells the same as for oyster patties (which see). Put into a saucepan half an ounce of butter, half a medium-sized onion minced, half a pound of minced raw veal, one small carrot shredded; toss about for two minutes to fry, but not to color; add two tablespoonfuls of flour, stir it about with the vegetables; then add three pints of hot water, or if convenient use hot soup-stock instead; add a pint of boiling cream. Season with half a teaspoonful of salt and a saltspoonful of white pepper. Simmer one hour, and strain into a saucepan. Add to each pint of sauce half a wineglassful of cream. Simmer until reduced enough to coat a spoon; strain it again into a crock, and whisk it until cold, to prevent a thick top from forming. When wanted for patties, or any thing else, boil one pint of it with an ounce of butter, whisking it thoroughly. Prepare a quart of solid crab-meat, either picked from the shells or purchased already prepared; add it to a pint of the sauce; strew in a few shredded mushrooms: fill the crab-shells with this, and serve. On fast-days, omit veal and stock from meats, and use milk instead.

[This very excellent sauce was named after the Marquis de Bechamel, a worthless court-lounger and steward under Louis XIV. Why his unsavory memory has been perpetuated by a gastronomic monument of worth, is one of those inexplicable historical facts that students of the art of cookery are continually stumbling upon. The close observer will not fail, however, to discover that nearly all dishes named after old French celebrities were stolen bodily from old Venetian and ProvenÇal books of cookery, and were re-baptized after some of the most notorious profligates of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Many of these old cook-books, like “Opusculum de Obsoniis de Honesta Voluptate,” a volume printed at Venice, 1475 (the first cookery-book published), and others, contain recipes almost identical with French cookery of the past few centuries.]

Crabs, À l’AmÉricaine.—Pick out the meat from the shells of four dozen boiled hard-shell crabs; squeeze out the water gently; put the meat in a bowl, and add the yolks of two raw eggs, salt, cayenne, and a very little chopped parsley, and two tablespoonfuls of bread-crumbs; roll the mixture into small balls or cakes; dip in egg batter, roll in cracker-crumbs, and fry to a delicate brown. They may be served plain or with tomato sauce.

Crabs, Deviled.—Pick out the meat of four dozen boiled hard-shell crabs, put it into a bowl, and add a half-pint of mayonnaise. Mix carefully with your hand; wash a dozen of the shells, put a little of the mixture into each; grate a loaf of dry bread, season a pint of it with salt and pepper, sprinkle it over the crabs evenly; make twelve little balls of butter about the size of hickory-nuts; put one on top of each crab, and bake in a quick oven.