Whether you're into hosting your own crab feast or like to patronize your local crab house, any time of the summer is a good time to enjoy the famous blue crabs from the Chesapeake Bay,

Hosting your crab feast can be a lot of fun with some careful planning. First, how many crabs will you need? A bushel of number 1 -"Jimmy" or male crabs will generally feed 10-12 people. It will depend on the size of the crab, but a bushel will hold about 60 70 crabs. If you add other food items to the menu, you won't need as many crabs per person. It's also important to stagger your crab cooking time. While your guests are eating the first half of the crabs, you can steam the second half of the bushel. That way they will be hot when everyone is ready for the second batch. Be sure to cook only live crabs and never place cooked crabs in the same basket that held live crabs. Remember to cover your table with plenty of newspapers and have mallets, knives and plenty of paper towels available. And as for those claws: "Don't smash them, just crack them!"

For more variety to your feast, add various other Maryland seafood delicacies such as grilled rockfish, steamed clams, scalded oysters and other crab delights. Your feast can turn into a grand seafood festival!