Arrest of Atzerodt

[Laurie Verge]

We didn't have access to a boat, so we would sit on a pier with chicken necks attached to sturdy string and wait for the tug. Once you felt the tug, you gently started pulling in the string until the crab was close enough to net. When they got wise to what you were doing and dropped off the line, you then said a swear word and threw that chicken neck back in!

We steamed our hard shells whole with a little bit of beer and Old Bay seasoning in the pot of water. I am not fond of hard shells. For one thing, you can starve to death picking out the meat - give me a soft shell sandwich or a crab cake to tide me over and I'll consider picking the hard shell for entertainment value only. I also am finicky about having dirty fingers from food. I can handle fried chicken and corn on the cob, but that's about it.

I also tried steaming crabs myself once and felt so guilty when they squealed bloody murder (no blood, but it was murder!) when I threw them into the boiling water... Never did it again, and left the kitchen when my friends cooked them.

I only did this with friends because my father would never touch any kind of crab - even though my mother and I loved them. He had served in Air/Sea Rescue during WWII at Langley Field in Virginia, where pilots were trained. Many of the planes went down in the water, and his crew was in charge of going out in the boats to retrieve the Norden bomb sight first and then the pilots who never made it out of the plane.

The way they found the wreckage was to track the hordes of crabs that headed after the bodies. By the time they reached the plane and got the bomb sight out, they had to fight off the crabs to retrieve the bodies. Most of the critters headed for the eyes first.

Have a wonderful dinner, folks.

To end (I promise) on a historical note, research that we have done here at Surratt House for several cookbooks that we have published indicates that crabs were not particularly popular among the middle- and upper-classes of American society until the 20th century. They were reserved for the lower- and slave-classes. The upper crust really enjoyed their oysters, however, and Virginia and Maryland used to have oyster wars. Those two states supplied the rest of the country with wonderful oysters after the Civil War when rail transportation became wide-spread. It was such a vigorous trade that they depleted the supplies and have never fully regained the quantities that they once produced.

John Wilkes Booth was a great fan of oyster bars. There, Roger, I have managed to get back on the topic of Booth. Has anyone ever seen reference to Mr. Lincoln enjoying oysters once he got to Washington?