Alaskan King Crab

[markk]

A few years ago, the Seafood manager at my local Hoboken (NJ) Shop Rite pointed out to me that they had Alaskan King Crabs that were flown in cooked, but "fresh" - not frozen - and explained to me that this was the case just two weeks each year. Although I had never had great luck with King Crabs, I bought some, and they were outstanding. I have bought them each successive year that they have told me was during the two-week "fresh" period, and have never been disappointed.

Apparently, that two-week period has just ended, during which I bought copious amounts of them and feasted on them, and I meant to pose this question sooner -

Does anybody know about this phenomenon?

I have had them frozen on a few occasions in my life, and they have ranged from lackluster to horrible. Yet when they are "fresh", they are impeccably delicious. What's the deal? Nothing on the internet addresses this.

[maher]

the king crab season in alaska is tightly regulated. up until this year, the fishermen made a mad dash in early november to fish as much as they could before the season was declared closed by the alaska fisheries authority. typically the season ran about ten days but occasionally it ran as little as 36 hours depending on how much crab was caught. the crab is kept in live tanks byt the fishermen until they get to shore at which point processing plants cook the crab and flash freeze it for the rest of the year. an excellent documentary was done on this by the discovery channel called the deadliest catch. they have it on repeats pretty regularly so if you are interested it is worth catching. (npi)

some quantities are flash frozen for a much smaller period of time, and shipped arond the US (and the world) to be sold as fresh. many suppliers do not even stock this due to the uncertainty of the supply, but i agree with you it is by far the best crab. you should still be able to get high quality frozen crab the rest of the year by sticking to a good supplier, and insisting on the red king crab which is far superior to other varieties that are sold at different times tpically labelled only as alaskan king crab.

the key part of the story is that the fishing season was changed for the first time this season (last nov-jan) where each boat was given a quota and an open schedule to fish it, which effectively meant that 'fresh' king crab is now available from late november through february rather than only a two week period, and the frozen crab you get is consequently a lot fresher, having been fished as late as feb instead of nov.

[rooftop1000]

....the second season of the Deadliest Catch starts soon on the Discovery channel...saw the commercial last night very cool show

LOVE king crab...the only nasty stuff I had was at Red Lobster...""gift certificate""

tracey

[John S.]

I have had them frozen on a few occasions in my life, and they have ranged from lackluster to horrible.  Yet when they are "fresh", they are impeccably delicious.  What's the deal?  Nothing on the internet addresses this.

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In the seventies, I spent three winters in a row at Eilson AFB in Fairbanks. We put in our order before we flew back to Southern California and as we were loading the planes, it was delivered. They were large boxes of 20 pounds, frozen, very inexpensive. One time they brought us snow crab by mistake. But I just would boil them in the shell a little bit (the king crab was red - forget what the snow crab looked like) and we would have a party after returning, eating it with maybe just a little dipping sauce. It was so sweet. The best crab (maybe seafood) I ever ate!

[budrichard]

Your 'fresh' King Crab is not much different than flash frozen. I have had them fresh cooked even flown in from Japan at Mitsuwa in Chicago. Live King Crab is available for a price and it is definately better than 'fresh' or frozen. Last one I got was $160. -Dick

[Bill44]

Just to break your heart.

Where I live, Central Coast NSW Australia, I am about 100yards from a lake system open to the sea. From November to April each year we catch "Blue Swimmer" crabs (known by various names). A daily limit of 20 per person is in force.

I have eaten myself silly this year on fresh crab and have 10Kg of meat frozen to get me through till next season. Burp!

[maher]

Bill i hope you realize how lucky you are, and how vivid the shade of green that you have turned all of us is

[Bridgestone]

Yeah, but we're talking about Alaskan King crab, right? As good as blue crabs are (and the blue swimmer crab looks to be very similar to the American blue crab), they simply aren't the same thing as Alaskan King crab...

[elfin]

Why do the crabs have to be precooked before they are frozen? Other fish that are flash frozen are not precooked. I have never gotten an answer to this inquiry. I have bought the frozen precooked legs and found them to be spongy and or soggy after cooking. In Petersburg, Alaska, had a live red crab (albeit from a tank full of crabs) dinner steamed. It was $ 46 with nothing else. It was delicious.

[budrichard]

I have eaten just about every commercially available variety of crab and I can unequivocably tell you that FRESH KING CRAB RULES!.-Dick

Edited March 13, 2006 by budrichard (log)

[jayt90]

Why do the crabs have to be precooked before they are frozen?  Other fish  that are flash frozen are not precooked.  I have never gotten an answer to this inquiry. I have bought the frozen precooked legs  and found them to be spongy and or soggy after cooking.  In Petersburg, Alaska, had a live red crab (albeit from a tank full of crabs)  dinner steamed.  It was $ 46 with nothing else.  It was delicious.

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They will deteriorate if killed and cooked later, just like lobster. Could be harmful to eat.

The cooked but frozen product should not be spongy or soggy if thawed slowly in the fridge, and gently reheated in a low oven. If the exposed meat, as in the knuckle joints, is off colour rather than snow white, there may be a quality problem