When I was a child, crab was pretty much unknown to me except as the filling in a folded slice of abalone at my favorite restaurant (yes, I've always eaten well). Shrimp, any way you prepared it, I adored. Lobster, experienced only in tasting what other family members ordered in that same restaurant, either a simple broiled tail or in that glamourpuss of so-called "Continental" American dining, Lobster Thermidor, I hated, though now that I like it I can't explain what it was I didn't like back then.
Of course like most people who don't live in Maine, I have never had all the lobster I wanted. So I wait eagerly every year for Memorial Day weekend when one of the grocery stores in town flies in a massive quantity of live Maine lobsters. And yesterday there I was standing in line to claim two 2 pounders as my very own, which we steamed for last night's dinner. The rest of the meal was clarified butter, crusty sourdough bread, and romaine lettuce tossed with a tarragon mustard vinaigrette. Oh, and a bottle of good Washington chardonnay. And so there I was, in the middle of taking a hammer to the second massive claw that was not going to yield forth it's goodness any other way, already covered with much splatter from the first claw, when it dawned on me that this mess was pretty unacceptable and furthermore, truth be told, on taste alone, good as this was I liked those frozen Malaysian flower shrimp that I butterflied, painted with browned butter and garlic and broiled for dinner last Friday, better.
So without divulging why I wanted to know, I asked Bob to put shrimp, lobster and crab in his order of preference, and even with a mouthfull of sweet Maine tail he came back with: shrimp, crab, lobster. Even if they're frozen, I asked, like those shrimp I broiled last week? "Those were infinuckingcredible," he said, "I would rather have those than this any day of the week. And I don't have to wear a bib to eat them."
Of course, secretly I already agreed. And when I think back to any of the fresh shrimp I've ever been lucky enough to have and compare them to the lobster we had last night, there's even less of a contest. Some would call their flavor lighter, and I would agree with that while pointing out that to me that's not wan but delicate, in the way pinot noir's more delicate than cabernet but no less magnificent, and I find a lot of refinement in that delicacy. I also prefer their finer texture. For the same reasons, I probably prefer the Dungeness crab we pull out of our bay every August to lobster too, and though this isn't an attempt to vote lobster off the planet as it really is delicious, we found ourselves wondering last night if lobster's impressive size, cost and relative scarcity are what leaves it relatively unchallenged as the luxury goods of shellfish, or if a majority of others would agree that it's the best.
Let's discuss.
