Easiest way to clean+cook crabs

[DaveyHAZZ]

Love the taste of these fine creatures.. Just so much work put into to it. Wonderin' how you guys clean your catch.

I end up ripping the legs and arms off. Keep the arms... throw out the legs....then i pull back the shell wash out all the gunk and take the lungs out, then cook..

Gets to be a prolonged process when ya got 50 or so crabs...

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: Easiest way to clean+cook crabs

Blue Claws....... cook them live just like a lobster with some seasoning in the water........ boil em!

Eat them like lobster too..... the cleaning is done after they are cooked

 

[DaveyHAZZ]

Re: Easiest way to clean+cook crabs

Cook them in shell legs and all? Then u take the meat out? or??? i heard if you eat the lungs there pretty poisonous,,

 

[Cofe]

Re: Easiest way to clean+cook crabs

As was said, boil the crabs whole, and eat the crab meat.

I use Zatarain's liquid, some people like the spice packets. Just follow the directions on the bottle for Great crab.

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: Easiest way to clean+cook crabs

The mustard (green stuff) used to be considered a delicacy but they can contain dioxins......

We just pop off the shell .....scoop out the goop and dispose of it and eat the meat.

The mustard is what "could be" pretty poisonous and I would not eat it.

 

[trendsetter240]

Re: Easiest way to clean+cook crabs

Cook them whole for the best taste I find. I just find it more work cleaning them after they've been cooked then when they are live.

My preference is to clean them first and just cook the legs, claws and body meat.

Up here we mainly have dungeness crab which are much larger. (50 of them would feed 50 people!).

To clean them, I grasp the legs and one claw from each side in each of my hands with the crabs belly facing down. Then smack them down onto an edge of the dock/boat/cooler/pot whatever (belly first). This kills them nearly instantly and you basically twist the two sides of the crab off, toss the whole back shell and use running water to rinse off the gills and other inards. (Crabs don't have lungs. At least the ones I eat don't)

Once you get the hang of it it goes pretty quickly. Take crab, crack in two, toss shell, rinse..done.

Then steam the half-crab pieces and serve with some drawn garlic butter..

 

[DaveyHAZZ]

Re: Easiest way to clean+cook crabs

Sorry about the "lungs" lmao realized i called them that. meant to say gills.

http://www.sms.si.edu/IRLFieldGuide/images/Crab.gif

 

[puddle jumper]

Re: Easiest way to clean+cook crabs

The way trendsetter said is a common way to do it. We like to cook them alive in ocean water with a little sea weed for taste. We only have Duneness crabs.

But as for for one each we like to go out and have a feast on the beach. About one to five per person make a grate after noon. Then I am good for a few months.

 

[tx1961whaler]

Re: Easiest way to clean+cook crabs

Love the taste of these fine creatures.. Just so much work put into to it. Wonderin' how you guys clean your catch.

I end up ripping the legs and arms off. Keep the arms... throw out the legs....then i pull back the shell wash out all the gunk and take the lungs out, then cook..

Gets to be a prolonged process when ya got 50 or so crabs...

Easiest way ? "Waiter, I'd like the crab today"

 

[WizeOne]

Re: Easiest way to clean+cook crabs

Definitely cook them live for the best taste and texture. I tried cleaning them first, one time. They were just not the same. They were drier, stringier and lost a lot of the taste when I did them that way.

Just cook 'em, pull off the shell and break them in half. Have a bucket of warm water to rinse the halves out in. Leave the legs attached until you go to eat them. They will be much, much better.

 

[i386]

Re: Easiest way to clean+cook crabs

Here's a little regional culture thing for y'all... Around where I was born on North FL's gulf coast, (blue) crabs are "picked" (fish are "cleaned"). Not everyone knows how to pick crabs. Typically, women do it and it's considered a talent just like making good biscuits or cornbread. Same is true for shucking oysters which is a more common talent than picking crabs. Other than the legs and claws I wouldn't know what's safe to eat in there and what's not. I seem to remember my mother and grandmother mentioning something inside the crab called "dead man's fingers".

 

[BWR1953]

Re: Easiest way to clean+cook crabs

Man, nothing beats whole, live blue crabs steamed in a big pot with Old Bay seasoning!

 

[jay_merrill]

Re: Easiest way to clean+cook crabs

Man, nothing beats whole, live blue crabs steamed in a big pot with Old Bay seasoning!

Old Bay! BAH!

Eye-eeeeeeeeeeee! You don't got no Zatairan's, you don't got no crawbs!

Clotilde! Cha! Why you do me dat? Where's my season-in for dem crawbs?





???