By Mary Parks & Jonathan Taggart | 25 minutes

For centuries, green crabs have been an integral part of Venetian cuisine and fishing culture, served soft-shell (moeche) or for their roe (masinette). In Venice, the fishers that harvest and cultivate green crabs are known as moecante. White moecante are often secretive about their specific methodologies, the process of cultivating soft-shell green crabs generally requires identifying and isolating crabs that are about to molt (pre-molt). It’s important for the fisherman to detect a pre-molt crab because a molting crab or soft-shell can quickly be devoured by a hungry crab it’s being stored with. Traditionally, moecante used wicker baskets to store isolated green crabs along the Venetian canal. Today, wooden and plastic floats hanging have replaced the wicker baskets along the Venetian canal. In the US, fisherman have adapted modern fishing and lobstering gear to molt invasive green crabs. Learn more about efforts to produce moeche from Cape Cod invasive green crabs on our blog.

Traditional Venetian moeche can be prepared in a variety of ways and is often served with a side of grilled polenta and a wedge of lemon. The crab can be fried plain or battered in milk and flour. Sometimes crabs are even fed milk prior to frying to take on its richness. Most Venetians fry the crab whole; however, you can trim the soft-shell crab prior to frying if you prefer. To learn how to do this, check out our soft-shell trimming and freezing and tutorial here.

Soft-shell green crab is similar in taste to soft-shell blue crab but tends to be a bit sweeter and is about half the blue crab’s size. Below we discuss the traditional Venetian method of preparing moeche. For additional soft-shell recipes and preparations, scroll to the bottom of the page.

INGREDIENTS

• soft-shell green crab

• oil for frying

• salt to taste

• 1/2 cup of flour

• seasoning to taste

   

DIRECTIONS

1. Begin by filling dutch oven or large pot with three inches of oil

2. Heat oil to 360º

3. Rinse live, soft-shell crabs well in cold water

4. Sprinkle crabs with salt

5. Dip crabs in milk, saltwater, or seawater (all Venetian methods)

6. Dredge crabs in flour and seasoning

7. Fry in batches of 4 to 8 crabs for 2 to 3 minutes or until golden brown

8. Flip crabs with a pair of chopsticks and fry for an additional 2 minutes

9. Remove from oil onto wire rack or towel

10. Serve with polenta, fresh lemon, and parsley