Boiling crab in the cockpit - what do you use?

Marco Flamingo · Posted: Sun Oct 06, 2019 10:36 pm Post subject:

Boiled in seawater (or sea-salted water if I cook them away from saltwater). When it's done cooking, pour in enough seawater to double what's in the pot. That cools the crab enough to pull some of the saltwater back in to the shell. If you just pull them out of the boiling saltwater, the meat can sort of stick to the shell and is dry. Cooling them in saltwater gives them just the right juicy flavor.

I always think it's funny when people say that they don't want the "fishy" smell in the boat (or the house). My wife's friend always makes her husband use the outside grill to keep the "stink" of cooking salmon outside. Having grown up in a family with native heritage, I'm reminded of my uncle. He was a gillnetter and drove a Lincoln Continental because the trunk was big enough to hold an night's catch and deliver it to the processor. Needless to say that his car smelled "fishy." We would get in and every time he would say "Ahhhh, smells like money."

Mark

Lew 25 · Posted: Mon Oct 07, 2019 12:51 pm Post subject:

I clean, steam, and eat. Use a double boiler with 1 inch of sea H2O and bring pot to a good boil. Add 3 7" crabs and cook for 12 minutes ,chill in ice water and eat with hot butter.Repeat as many times as necessary.This year we didn't run out of crab. Tried to freeze some with very poor results. Need to eat them fresh. That is why Mikes crabs look so appetizing . Lew

Lew 25 · Posted: Mon Oct 07, 2019 12:55 pm Post subject:

Mark, I'll try cooling then in salt water next year. Lew

smckean (Tosca) · Posted: Mon Oct 07, 2019 1:33 pm Post subject:

I my experience, if crab are under-cooked, the meat sticks inside the shell, and the crab are hard to eat. If over-cooked, the meat becomes stringy and dry. (I personally would rather eat under-cooked than over-cooked.)

I cook both whole and cleaned crab under water with sea water (or salted water). I try to cool and rinse with sea water too, but I do find that when cooking cleaned crab, if I rinse with sea water, the meat can taste a bit salty; that's one reason I always try, if possible, to cook them whole. (easier to clean that way too).

Marco Flamingo · Posted: Mon Oct 07, 2019 7:58 pm Post subject:

smckean (Tosca) · Posted: Wed Oct 09, 2019 11:10 am Post subject:

We freeze picked crab all the time and use it all winter. Is it as good as fresh? Of course not, but pretty damned good. We use it "in something".....that is, as crab cakes, or crab pasta, or crab green salad, and it is just fine.

What I do is pack about 1 pound picked crab into a 1 pt Mason jar. I pack it tightly using a blunt stick. As I pack it I add a very small bit of salt water from time to time as I go to eliminate any air pockets. I leave about 1/2" at the top. Then freeze it solid. Once frozen, take it out of the freezer and add enough salt water to fill that half inch. Then back in the freezer and you're done. The 1/2 of water and tight packing sort of seals it against freezer burn.

hardee · Posted: Thu Oct 10, 2019 2:51 pm Post subject:

SnowTexan · Posted: Thu Oct 10, 2019 3:03 pm Post subject:

In snohomish, Harvey, we just called it the derriere.

hardee · Posted: Thu Oct 10, 2019 3:20 pm Post subject:

Pat Anderson · Posted: Thu Oct 10, 2019 8:39 pm Post subject:

Pat here, don't know if Patty saw this post.

We started cooking them whole then cleaning them last year after we were at Chris and Janet Erickson's dock on Center Island and I watched how Chris was doing it.

Old way - whack then with a crab whacker, take the back off, break them in half, removed gills and guts, then cook the cleaned halves.

New way - cook them whole, let them cool. Take the backs off, removed gills and guts, swish them in salt water to clean, and ice them down.

New way is much faster and easier for me, and the meat is in better shape. Do they taste better? Maybe, maybe not, I love crab either way!