Clean Before You Cook. This prevents them over-cooking from the boiling water left trapped within the shell. With this said, a layer of ice should be placed on the bottom of the ice chest, followed by wet burlap, and then the crabs. Maryland Blue Crab. Take pains to clean them well.Then thoroughly wash them under cold running water and set them aside to drain. Similar to baking, grilled crabs should be pre-cooked half way—about 5 minutes in boiling water or the steamer—cooled and cleaned before heading to the grill. There Are a Myriad of Ways to Prepare This Sea Creature. 2. Be sure not to pack them in too tightly. Growing up with grandparents on the Potomac river in Coles Point, Virginia, it was only natural that from a young age picking crabs on a picnic table loaded with newspaper was something I call a food "Life Lesson. Clean the crab (see Resources 1 for crab-cleaning instructions with pictures). Now all you need to do is find a place—creek bank, dock, bridge, pier or even surf—to crab. Lay crab on its back and using the knife remove the apron/abdomen of the crab. Toss the whole cleaned crabs (or halves or quarters depending on the size) with some olive oil and maybe a minced clove of garlic or two, plus some chopped rosemary or thyme leaves if you like. Stun live blue crab by placing in ice water for five minutes. Using the tongs, pick up a crab and place it in the bucket of ice water. Melt 4 tablespoons of butter in a medium saucepan. Whether you catch the crabs yourself or buy them at your local fishmonger, you'll need to clean them thoroughly before cooking and eating. Spray the inside of the crabs with a hose and set aside. Plus, it's an interesting enough sea food, that is surprisingly rather easy to cook. To clean the crab: begin by removing the top shell. Turn crab right side up again. After the crab is cooked, let it sit to cool down. I cook my crabs in fresh water in a large pot and to the water I had approx 2 tablespoons of salt and 1 tablespoon of sugar. Crack claws, and remove meat with a small cocktail fork. Pull off the top shell … Rinse under cold running water. The only bad way to eat blue crabs is so slowly that there's none left for you to have more. Insert thumb under shell by apron hinge; … Step 1: Prepping the whole crabs Grasp live crabs from behind, firmly holding the back two legs on each side. 5. They go on to say if facilities for slushing do not exist, the blue crabs may be kept alive with ice, as long as they are protected from direct contact with the ice. Then, clean your crabs. For most of us, eating blue crabs is something that we've learned over the years from watching our dads and older brothers. Of course, lots of folks enjoy simple steamed blue crabs with some melted butter, cocktail sauce, … Now you're ready to fill it with crab salad, or a seasoned crab/breadcrumb mixture for baked stuffed crab. Bring a pot of water to a rolling boil over a stovetop. Place the crab directly into the boiling water, if its shell is intact, and cover the pot with a lid. This instantly kills the crab. Scrub exterior shells and remove entrails, as chemicals concentrate in the crab’s digestive organs. Follow these steps to clean the live crab. 5. They will go limp or lifeless after a while. With your fingers or a knife remove sections a, b, and a (these are the lungs and innards). Place the steamer section into the pot, making sure the steamer is not touching the liquid. 6. Leave it in the water for five minutes. know where to start Once they are done, drop them briefly into the ice bath to stop the cooking process. After spraying the crab clean, there will be nothing left but shell and succulent crab meat. Putting a crab in the fridge will kill them and you should never cook a dead crab. Advertisement Soft-shell crabs about to … Once it has completely cooled down, take a layer of cling wrapper and wrap each blue crab individually. Let the crab cool for a minute before beginning the cleaning process. CBYC. Pry off the top shell using the shell's spine for leverage. To prevent the crab from drying out, you must boil or steam the meat. Before you heat precooked crab, thaw the meat in the refrigerator for 24 hours if it is frozen. ; Set them on a hot grill until cooked through and browned, about 4 minutes per side. sadie423 from North Carolina on June 24, 2012: I have wonderful memories of crabbing as a child. Tie a piece of line on the pole long enough to match the handle. Blue crab is one of my favorite crustacean; the others are snow crab, king crab, Dungeness crab, lobster tail.. How to Eat Blue Crabs Like a Pro. Carefully take your live crabs out of the ice water with tongs and place them into the … Start brushing the underside with a toothbrush or wait when the crab is lifeless. Rinse under cold running water. 1. Watch and learn as Captain Vincent Russo shows you how to clean your catch. Pour the beer and vinegar in the bottom of the steamer pot. 3. The crab is native to the waters of the western Atlantic Ocean and through the Gulf of Mexico. Put thumb on back of top shell fingers on front pry up and forward to remove shell. If you're new to … With your thumb or a knife point, pry off apron flap on the under side of crab. Once they are deemed ready, let them sit in some cold water for a while and cool down a little. Step 2: Boiling the whole crabs To boil 3 pounds live hard-shell blue crabs, bring 8 quarts water and 2 teaspoons salt to boiling in a 12- to 16-quart pot. Allow each crab to cook for approximately 15 minutes (once they float to the top, give them an extra 2-3 minutes). Removing the Meat: 1. Bring the water to a roaring boil and use a pair of tongs to add the fresh crabs into the pot. Cover the pot, put it on the stove or over a hot campfire, and bring the water to a rolling boil. Invert the crab, and pry off the apron (or tail flap), and discard it. To cook the crab, fill about 3/4th of a big pot with water and throw in a pinch of salt. Cooked crab meat, if stored in an airtight container, can last three to five days refrigerated. Here’s how it’s done:Remove the top shell, scrape away the gills, cut off the mouth, snap off the claws and the legs, and scoop out the fat. They must be kept alive (typically in aerated water) until they are cleaned and cooked. The crabs are now ready to be cooked. Use a garden hose to spray out the crab, leaving it clean and free of digestive tract and gill material. Crabs don’t take long to cook at all, 6 or 7 minutes should do the job for a regular size crab. Boil or steam the crabs as outlined above for about 5 minutes, let them cool, then clean them. Mercury, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and dioxins are especially harmful to babies and young children. I bring the water to the boil then drop in a couple crabs and place a lid on to speed it up coming back to the boil. Be sure to remove the crab's green gland (tomalley). Once you have them sedated you will need a knife, running water, a huge trash bag and a place to put the clean crabs. Cooking Live Crab: Cooking crabs alive – This can be a bit of a challenging feat because live crabs are feisty but the scrumptious rewards make the undertaking worth your while. "All in all, everything you have heard is true: it is messy, it requires some patience, it is work to get to the meat, but in the end, it is well worth it. DANGER. We'll here are some instructions on how to clean the crab and get to the delicious meat in four easy steps. Bring the water, vinegar (or beer), and salt to a boil in your large pot and add in 2 tbsp of the Old Bay seasoning. Let me know if you are headed my way, and I will get the crab lines ready! This will stun the crab and prevent nasty pinches during the cleaning process. Put thumb on back of top shell fingers on Once you have them sedated you will need a knife, running water, a huge trash bag and a place to put the clean crabs. While eating crab in restaurants is fun, it's always a good thing, and a whole different experience, to buy one from the market and cook it at your own leisure. Grasp crab by its legs and under top shell spine (stunned and can be handled bare handed). Take a layer of foil wrapper and wrap the blue crab again. Drain the cooked crabs in a large colander and put them under cold running water so that they can cool down to room temperature. When the water is boiling, drop your crabs into the pot. I’ve used numerous blue crab recipes over the years. Brush the crab meat with butter or olive oil mixed and the seasonings and herbs of your choosing and cook on a medium-hot grill for approximately 4 minutes per side. To get to cooked meat, first twist off crab legs and claws intact. Chesapeake blue crab has a stronger, richer flavor than mild Asian blue crabmeat, which is whiter in color. Get maximum yield with EVERY CRAB! 1. This double insulation will prevent any air from getting to the crab. Add water until there is about 3 inches in the bottom of the pot. Put an couple inches of water into a big, sturdy pot. To clean the crabs: remove the top shell, the gills, the yellow "mustard", the eyes and the apron. If you're drying the shell, give it a soapy scrub as well before leaving it in a warm, dry spot to dry out. I also love crab legs and crawfish.. 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