Eating Etiquette and Table Manners for a Crab Dinner Menu

This ultimate guide provides you with the basic etiquette of enjoying the crab dinner menu. So, you will have an amazing dining experience at your favorite seafood restaurant. You can get your basic etiquette from your home or YouTube as well. However, eating crabs requires some more tricks as it is a slightly messier process. You may ruin your dinner if you don't know the etiquette of eating crabs. For this purpose, you must use napkins, table covers, a crab shell cracker, dull knives, and a crab mallet. In this article, we have given you thorough guidelines on how to eat crabs. So, you will avoid any embarrassing situations while enjoying your crab dinner menu.

Eating crabs requires some simple and easy steps. You should follow all those, and you will enjoy eating crabs. Below we discuss some steps for eating crab at a restaurant.

Preparation

Firstly, you have to prepare the table for eating crabs. Sometimes eating crabs becomes messy before eating crabs, set your table with the newspaper to avoid any problems. Newspapers will help you to absorb all the juices and protect your table. Resultantly, you will easily clean all the tables after dinner. You just have to roll up the newspaper and discard it.

In the next step, you must bring a knife, a mallet, and a claw cracker. If you are going to cook crab, then steam the crabs with seasonings. Steaming the crabs will add more flavor to the meals than any other cooking method.

Eating Crabs

First, you must pull off claws and legs to eat crabs. For twisting purposes, you must take a dull knife and insert it into the joint of the crab for easy removal. During this process, usually, some meat comes out from the leg, so eat that meat. Then toss the legs. After this, save the claws of crabs. Now turn the crab over its back and start opening its back. You must take its top and bottom half each in your hand.

Step 1: First, pull the top shell slowly. Don't be in a hurry; you must do this very slowly. You have to clean the crab by removing the gills.

Step 2: In the next step, pull the bottom half and break it in two. Now take one half and again cut it in half with a knife. If you are doing this with your hands, press it until it breaks and pulls apart. Now there is meat in front of you. With the help of your fingers, pull the meat and enjoy it! You can use a knife to pull out the meat from smaller chambers.

Step 3: Now start picking meat chunks from the body. You have to start with claws. Crack the claws with the help of a cracker. However, the most efficient way to open up the claw is:

Step 4: Put your knife in the middle of the red side of the claw. Then gently hit the knife with a crab mallet until the knife goes through half the claw. When the knife reaches the other side, it will open the claw, and you will easily eat it. Then open up the shell and eat the meat except for the cartilage.

Tips for eating Crabs

Though you are now aware of the etiquette of eating crabs, here are some tips you must keep in mind: these are below.

Be patient

Crabs are delicious to eat, especially when they are served with side dishes like mashed potatoes and onion rings. So, you have to show some patience while eating crab legs. The worst thing about eating crabs is that they will get messier while eating those crab legs. If you show more patience, you will enjoy it, and the less you will get messier. You have to show etiquette and don't leave the restaurant dirtier.

Breaking of crabs

After you learn how to show patience, you must learn how to eat meat. If you are ordering the whole crab, you should have an idea of breaking it into halves. You have to break the crab into quarters if it is large enough.

Legs separation

Some people have the patience to separate all the body parts of crabs before they start eating. You can also do it while eating. Twist and pull the crab's legs off. You can use crab crackers or crab mallets to separate the legs. 

Ask help

After attempting these steps, if you still find it difficult to pull off the crab's legs, don't hesitate to ask for help! You can ask for help from the staff or search for any tutorial on YouTube. It will be helpful!

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you eat crab with etiquette?

Firstly, you must cut down the crabs properly and pull this off from each part. Remove the inedible parts from the crabs and discard them. The important steps are to twist the legs and pull them, then suck the meat from the shell. Repeat the same process with the second leg as well.

Then put the legs separately on your plate. 

What are important table manners and etiquettes?

Some important table manners for eating crabs are as follows:

·         Firstly, keep your smartphone aside.

·         Keep your utensils correctly in their place.

·         Wash your hands and choose a clean space for your eating.

·         Put on your napkins.

·         Have some drinks when you're done with your dinner.

How should crab be served?

Fresh crabs can be steamed or boiled. You can steam them for 4-5 minutes. You have to thoroughly clean the crab before serving it. Remove its viscera and gills. In addition, you can serve crabs with sauces and melted butter. If you are using frozen crabs, thaw them properly before cooking them.

How do you serve a crab feast?

You have to transfer the crabs to a large platter or baking sheet for a crab feast. Put crabs trays on the table covers. Also, put crab knives or crab mallets to crack crabs' shells.

Conclusion

Sometimes, eating crabs at a restaurant gets messier. And you don't understand how to deal with it. So firstly, you must learn how to properly crack up the shells of crabs and pull the legs off. It needs patience and some practice to learn all the tricks.