Crab questions

[tobism]

Stone crab is goood... but you can't beat Maryland Blue Crabs. They're the best during the summer, with piles of Old Bay, eaten on newpaper covered wooden patio furniture, with the sun beating down and the salt water smell in the air... washed down with cold beer and good friends.

[tissue]

I like all crab. I had an albino crab from Australia that was really good. The shell is harder but the meat is a lot more tender. I had it steamed with browned garlic, butter at a Chinese restaurant.

[RaineS]

Maryland Blues, hands down. As a kid, I used to spend the morning on the pier, with 3-4 strings in the water, each baited with a chicken neck. A few hours later, we would have a full bushel of crabs, take 'em home, steam 'em in beer and old Bay and feast all afternoon! Of course, now that I'm all growned up, I can appreciate King Crab, Dungeness and Stone Crabs and the occasional soft crab sandwich.

RaineS

[AzRaeL]

King, King and more King!!!!!

Why is it that it is cooked before freezing?

i dunno, maybe to preserve the flavour.

both times i ate it, the crab was alive, just minutes before we ate it.

[dumpling]

=mark and I must have similar crab appetites.

I love in order of preference Giant Alaskan King Crab Legs, Stone Crab Claws, Soft shell crabs.. I don't have the patience for dealing with hard shell blue crabs and have never had but would love to try Dungeness. I have been getting huge Alaskan King Crab at out local Costco. The quality has been excellent. Extremely sweet and meaty. Great with drawn butter.

You have to try the Dungeness-a good meaty one, umm!

China 46 probably has them and they sell some at the Chinese market in River Edge but I haven't bought them there. Chinatown would have some.

[wesza]

Some of the best "Stone Crab" that i've ever eaten were served to me in Cuba.

These were called "Morro Crabs" and were composed of both whole Male and Female Crabs full of Miltz and Roe with Whole Claws.

The Crabs were simply steamed and delicious but it wasn't until several years later that I learned they were the same as the Florida Stone Crabs.

The most interesting Crabs were varieties i've enjoyed in Panang Malaysia at a seaside Restaurant that only served Crab and in Fuji where we enjoyed decadent ultra rich Coconut Crabs. In Tasmania Australia they have what's called a Australian King Crab that's got nothing to do with the Alaskan King except it's also very large but has Black Tipped Claws similar to the Stone Crabs and is quite delicious.

With all the Crabs i've enjoyed there aren't many that come close to the natural sweetness of the Atlantic Blue Pincher Crabs except the Samoan Crab or the Shanghai Fresh Water Crabs.

I've never appreciated the adding of Old Bay Seasonings or Steaming with Beer to me the Crab by it self, simply naturally steamed is the way to go.

Irwin [proud to be a old crab]

[AzRaeL]

AzRaeL, I had no idea that one could eat ANY part of a horseshoe crab. Years ago in Delaware there were times that, literally, so many horseshoe crabs were on the beach, we couldn't walk on the beach. If the roe was a delicacy, I could have become a billionaire. Did you buy it commercially or obtain some live horseshoe crabs? Please tell me more! -Susan

how do you upload a picture?

i'll put the horseshoe crab dish up

[tissue]

During the fall in HK when you eat Shanghai hairy crabs, they have whole tasting menu made up of the crab dishes. It is truly decadent.

[AzRaeL]

During the fall in HK when you eat Shanghai hairy crabs, they have whole tasting menu made up of the crab dishes. It is truly decadent.

and isanely expensive. Like $60 for a crab the size of my fist.

one chinese new year, i had like half a dozen of those critters.

pure joy!

YUM

[stephenc]

It's almost crab season. I primarily eat Maryland Blue crabs, not Dungeness cause we can't get 'em here in Philly.

One question. Do you kill the crab by spearing it before cooking? Or do you dump them right in the pot and boil/steam them alive? I heard somewhere that they come out tasting better if you kill them first, and they are also less likely to lose their claws.

[bbq4meanytime]

I don't know of anyone who cooks Blue crabs here that kills them first. Cook em live. Also the first time I've heard about the claw thing. Maybe somebody on the Louisiana board can weigh in too (ie Mayhaw Man, et al), they eat alot blue crabs down their way (in fact most of the blue we are seeing are from the gulf; the MD crabs are probably just coming out of the mud now).

[FistFullaRoux]

I've always been told to never eat the dead ones. My mom regularly stands over a pot with a big spoon to knock the runaways back in.

[Mayhaw Man]

CRABS BOILED ALIVE-film at 11

I am with FFOR. I have never seen anyone do anything BUT cook them alive. Dead crabs deteriorate quickly for one thing (dead crabs are only surpassed by shrimp in their ability to stink up the place), and for the other if they are not alive how do you know that they are fresh.

Come to think of it, I would have to consut a biologist on how to kill one (short of gassing it with co2, which would work but seems kind of pointless.

[docsconz]

When I make a pasta sauce with blue crabs I kill them by pulling off the top shell, clean them then stuff them with herbed bread crumbs and parmesan cheese. I replace the shell and tie some twine around the crab to keep it together. They then simmer for a couple of hours in tomatos sauce (with sweated onion) over low heat. This is sublime and my favorite dish in the whole world.

Softshells are usually "cleaned" then cooked.

[hillvalley]

I've always been told to never eat the dead ones. My mom regularly stands over a pot with a big spoon to knock the runaways back in.

My mom does the same thing. I think you can get sick from eating the dead ones, especially when you don't know how long it has been dead. But this is just for steaming.

In my family we joke that the ones who fight to stay alive taste better

[lala]

If you're squeamish about throwing a live one in the pot, put it in the freezer for about 20 minutes first (well, that's 20 min for a dungie. maybe a shorter time period for a blue crab?). This slows them down, so when you put them in the pot, they don't fight.

Personally, I just toss 'em in live. My fishmonger rolls them neatly in newspaper, so I break the seal on that and unroll him into the sink, onto his back. Grab him from the back, so he can't claw you, and pop him into the boiling, well salted water.

And no, never eat one that was dead before you cooked it, just like clams, oysters and mussels.

[lleechef]

Cook em alive!

Reminds me of a funny crab story. I had this pimply-faced prep kid who would think nothing of getting all liquored up and smashing someone's head through a plate glass window or punching them in the face. I bought live Jonah crabs to make a nage and I was wacking them in half with a cleaver when said prep guy ran out of the kitchen, shreaking, and never came back!

[chefboy2160]

Yeah, some tough preppy he was huh?

I remember a story told once about a chef who had deligated the job of parboiling and shocking cold about 100 live crab to his sous chef and that he would return shortly to help with the cleaning process. Well said chef comes back an hour later and finds his sous(who is a devout buddhist) saying a blessing over each crab before sending them into the simmering court boullion . The chef then in the order of haste had his sous do a mass blessing and finished the task.

As stated , live is fresh and best.......

[Brittany]

For many years when we went to the Washington coast crabbing we would cook them alive whole. After being shown how to cook them cleaned I have never gone back.

You flip them on there back, and with a large chief knife stab down into the mouth area. Than just come on down with the knife sliceing them inhalf, clean and put in boiling water. We find the meat is whiter and fresher tasteing.

Which makes sense, you are not cooking something in its own guts. We felt that this yellowed the meat.

Charlie

[docsconz]

The issue is not necessarily whether or not to cook a live vs. dead crab. Just don't buy dead crabs since you don't necessarily know how long they have been dead, therefore you don't know how fresh they are.

[mongo_jones]

wasn't there a thread recently on one of the forums about frozen, dead crab being okay? the huge korean store we go to near us (boulder, colorado--the store itself is in aurora) often has this in their frozen section, along with many other goodies like frozen mackerel, pomfret, black-cod, skate etc. i've always been too chicken to buy any though.

[Mayhaw Man]

wasn't there a thread recently on one of the forums about frozen, dead crab being okay?

Yes, crabs can be frozen whole after cleaning, although you rarely see then that way along the Gulf of Mexico. It is quite common, however, to see them quartered and sold in bags as "gumbo crabs". They work out nicely for soups and stocks.

[morda]

For many years when we went to the Washington coast crabbing we would cook them alive whole. After being shown how to cook them cleaned I have never gone back.

You flip them on there back, and with a large chief knife stab down into the mouth area. Than just come on down with the knife sliceing them inhalf, clean and put in boiling water. We find the meat is whiter and fresher tasteing.

Which makes sense, you are not cooking something in its own guts. We felt that this yellowed the meat.

Charlie

Oh no! If you do this, then don't you wash out all the yummy orange roe and green goo?

I say cook 'em live! Except for soft shells, I think the cleaning process kills them.

Although now that I've typed it, it sounds a bit evil...

morda

[aidensnd2]

Here in Australia it is actually against the law to cook crabs/lobsters/yabbies, etc. while they are awake and alert. You have to freeze them first or you can face animal cruelty charges...

[jsolomon]

Considering crabs are just about as mentally evolved as land-based arthropods, my $.02 go into the chuck 'em in boiling water. They're small and will be quickly dispatched that way.

This page has an interesting bit of diagramation of various invertebrates' central nervous systems.