mm 



By Katie Mosher 



When it comes to crab picking, 

 Llewellyn "Miss Lue" Lewis is a 

 master. 



Matriarch of the Luther Lewis & 

 Son crab plant in Davis, she has taken 

 many a novice under her wing. 



"You learn by doing," says Miss 

 Lue. At 83, she is a small, strong 

 woman with a round face and smiling 

 eyes. 



She started picking as she neared 

 age 50, when she was hired at Percy 

 Davis' plant in Marshallberg. Not long 

 after that, her son James Paul Lewis 

 decided to open his own plant. 



Having grown up on Core Sound, 

 Miss Lue had eaten crabs her whole life. 

 But quantity picking is different from 

 the leisurely pace of a family dinner. 



A woman from Lowlands taught 

 her the combination of skill and speed. 

 "Honey, I didn't learn in a day," Miss 

 Lue says with her distinctive Down East 

 accent. 



Soon Miss Lue was a teacher 

 herself, first coaching new workers in 

 Davis. Later she was paid by the com- 

 munity college to train workers at other 

 plants in Carteret County. 



To provide a feel for the skill level 

 required to pick crab and to demonstrate 

 the speed needed to earn more than 

 minimum wage, Miss Lue walks a 

 novice through a complicated series of 

 steps necessary for each crab. 



First, gather proper equipment — 



an apron, hairnet and a small, sturdy 

 knife. 



Sit "way up to the table," and keep 

 your back straight, she says. Like most 

 of the older pickers, Miss Lue sits at the 

 stainless steel table. Younger pickers 

 and most of the new Mexican workers 

 prefer to stand. 



A mound of crabs — steamed to a 

 bright orange, then cooled overnight — 

 is heaped before her. Plastic tubs for the 

 picked meat are in place, and a waste 

 can sits on the floor beside her for the 

 empty shells. 



To pick meat from the body, first 

 break off the claws. Pass them to a claw 

 picker's pile, or slide them into a laun- 

 dry basket to be taken to the claw 

 picker. 



Slide the knife into the top of the 

 back and pull off the shell, using the 

 knife to keep the stomach and mouth 

 with the shell. With female crabs, the 

 picker must also scrape off the eggs, 

 which are olive green when steamed. 



"These are the eggs," she says. 

 "This is where the little crabs come 

 from." Unlike caviar, the eggs are not 

 marketable. "We'll save it for cats." 



Turn the crab over and cut off the 

 smaller legs, known as gills or fins. 

 Miss Lue suggests putting the knife tip 

 into the soft part of the crab and break- 

 ing the fins. 



"It's like I am sewing, with a 

 needle, you know," she says. "I twist 



Continued 



COASTWATCH 9 



