You can start by tossing the etiquette out of the window! Picking blue crab is by far the most unglamorous method of food consumption. I have yet to discover a mannerly way to pick them. To say it’s messy is an understatement, and to say there is a right or wrong way is up to the guests at your table.

I’ve been in more than a few situations where I was unsure of how to eat a certain food, and blue crab was one of them. I was sort of embarrassed to ask my friends how to pick them; after all I am a Southern girl—this was like one of those things I should know. But, I kid you not when I tell you that my mom and my aunt always picked our crabs as children… must have been the Southern girl in them. The process becomes part of the pleasure of eating, kind of like shucking oysters.

There is no quick resolution to easing your hunger pain either; you must savor each morsel. I remember the first time my lilttle boy wanted to pick his own crab—my sweet little six-year-old was highly disappointed in the reward. “Is this it?” he said as he held the meat from the body. To which I replied, “yes, buddy, that’s all you get out of this kind, but isn’t it good!”

For all of you who find yourself around the table this summer with the day’s catch staring at you… here is your “How To!” Learn to pick them and a few good ways to cook them, too!