Soft shell crabs and shad roe

Oh, you poor girl...

... having to go all this time without trying soft shell crabs. I guess that's one benefit of living within driving distance of Chesapeake Bay. (Or was it just the shad roe you had for the first time?)
Anyway, my favorite preparation of soft shells is the basic one -- a very light dusting of flour and a quick saute in either butter alone or a mixture of butter and olive oil. A little salt & pepper (and maybe some garlic quickly sauteed in the butter or oil before doing the crabs), and that's heaven.
However, I have been curious about how soft shell crabs would be if prepared using a couple of Chinese sauces. In Chinese restaurants, I've had hard shell crabs stir-fried with either a ginger & scallion sauce or a black bean sauce. It always has seemed to me that these sauces go so well with the hard shell crabs, they should also go well with soft shells. If you want, I can try to locate a couple of recipes tonight or over the weekend. (Unfortunately, I don't keep any cookbooks at the office; people seem to think that makes you look less serious about your job.)
As for the shad roe, I'll be watching this thread with interest. I've had the same experience. I love the stuff. In local restaurants, the traditional way to serve shad roe is lightly sauteed with a couple of bacon strips. They must be doing something else, though (or there's some secret initiation that chefs go through when they start working for a restaurant that serves shad roe, during which the secrets of sauteeing shad roe are passed on in a smoke-filled session with drums beating), because when I do them at home, it ain't the same. One thing I can tell you - the roe has to be murderously fresh to be really good. It seems to deteriorate by the hour after being removed from the fish.

The first soft-shells I had this year were dipped in a tempura-like batter, deep-fried, and served with a very simple lemon-juice-and-black-pepper sauce. Second time: floured, sauteed, sauced with very light tomato+artichoke+sweet peppers. First were better -- the crab flavor shone through.

You can also poach shad roe in a strong court bouillon with herbs (8 - 9 minutes); let it cool, and serve as a salad -- either on lettuce, or broken up and mixed into a composed salad with potatoes, herbs, and a vinaigrette.

I always find the problem with the roe is over-cooking, which toughens the membrane and makes it more like compacted sand.

Simple is best for soft shell crabs. My vote goes with Shroom's and Brreynolds! :p

I've been having soft-shell crab cravings for two weeks. I got 4 earlier this week. Some live ones came into the local seafood shop today; unfortunately, I had to work a little later than usual and they sold the last one 1/2 an hour before I got there :(

At home, I've only tried the simple sautee already described. I had a spider roll or soft-shell crab handroll last week from a new Asian take-out place. I paid $6.50 for one and it was so small that it only took 3 bites. Also, the sushi rice was too mushy. However, the crab part was deliciously crispy (tempura batter and deep fried).

As for Chinese preps, soemone told me that salt and pepper soft-shells is terrific - even better than salt and pepper shrimp.

An old story.

When I lived in Portland, Oregon one of the fabled dishes that I heard about in the the old restaurants was "Shad Roe and eggs" for breakfast, with a couple of beers. Never tried it but was told how good they were. I am not sure if they meant the beers were for before or after the eggs....

We've been getting soft shell crabs in at the Kitchen for the past two or three weeks now. It's always nice to see fresh seasonal products being used in the specials. The crabs are being deep fried via the flour method. I'm not sure how they are plated, I'll ask the guy running the fry station tonight.

On a non-related note you never realize how important the hood fans are until the power goes out and the kitchen fills with smoke in less than 30 seconds.

Matt

I had soft shells in a Thai restaurant last night. Very spicey and very tasty.

Just did soft shells for hubbie last night (I'm on a 'meat' kick - when I'm stressed out, all I want is steak!), and instead of just flouring them, I dipped them in egg and used panko crumbs, sauteed in a little olive oil, and made a lemon/tarragon/butter sauce. Hubbie's eyes glazed over at the first bite, and he said the panko crumbs pushed it over the top!

I think dirt would taste good if it was coated with panko crumbs!! At my 'quattro de mayo' party, I dusted the crab cakes with panko crumbs before sauteeing - what a delicate, crispy crunchy crust, and it offset the tenderness of the inside of the crab cake. Yum, oh yum!