I also find that a good 24 hour brining actually goes a long way to softening up that carapace. If you remove some key plates they spatchcock pretty well too, which cuts down on cook time. I use the extra plates to make a nice bisque.pffft
Let a creole Halfling correct you on that: you harvest them when they molt. So you only use the soft-shelled ones for Gi-Kreen-Mul.