Whitey Schmidt: Self - Author

Quotes 

• Self - Author : Paper towels, mallet - but don't smash them, just crack them. Carvel Hall crab picking knife. Plastic knives? No, no! You don't eat a crab with a plastic knife.

• [first lines] 

  Self - Author : [driving onto a small ferry]  You know, when the urge for crabs strikes, you gotta find them and this is the only way other than driving all the around the Wicomico River that I know of to get the good ones.

• [last lines] 

  Self - Author : Half of the fun is going down the backroads and looking at all the creeks and tributaries and nooks and crannies... and there's so much that the Chesapeake has to offer.

• Self - Author : I do have a lot of rules when I go out to a crab house anywhere on the Chesapeake. I reckon as a young kid my dad cooks up steamed crabs out in the backyard and there was something magical about that.

• Self - Author : This set of rules I've kind of put faith in is sort of a guidebook about it. So I went up one side and down the other all around the Chesapeake Bay searching for anybody that was involved in crabs.

• Self - Author : The first thing I look for is crabs cooked to order - and that's pulled from the the water and popped in the pot. That's the most important thing that I look for.

• Self - Author : [examining the bright red, angry looking armored crustacean]  Rule Number 3: first fright, then delight.

• Self - Author : I grew up with eight brothers and two sisters and I learned at an early age if you don't pick fast, you don't get any crabs.

• Self - Author : You gotta have a place to clean up. You gotta have paper towels and soap. When you find a crab house that has not one but two sinks to clean-up, that's the difference between an ordinary crab house and a super good one.

• Self - Author : When the crabs come there are things that you are expected to have out on the picnic table or sitting around the card table. One of the things I like is butcher block paper on the table. If you don't have brown butcher, use a newspaper. Fold out the days' paper. That's all you got to do.

• Self - Author : I love apple cider vinegar where you add a teaspoon or so of spice as additional seasoning.

• Self - Author : Another one is melted butter. Now you don't want that fake stuff - you gotta have real butter.

  Contented Crab House Customer : Butter! Oh God, yeah. Butter.

  Self - Author : That's all you need. So it doesn't take long and you're set up ready to go.

• Self - Author : I think you should have a side dish when eating. Couple of things come to mind - hush puppies and Maryland tomatos. My favorite side is corn on the cob - just marvelous.

• Self - Author : And I love it when somebody will say to me, Whitey, did you know that there's a new place on the outskirts of town and you're going to have to try it out. And I'll spend an afternoon hauling out trying to find a new place to eat steamed crabs.