yet another crab Q..

[River Ranger]

What do you do with the crabs after you take them out of the pots?Put them in water..Empty cooler?Also how soon after your done do you need to cook them?Thanks Everyone.
R.R.

[The Bad Fish]

they can survive out of water for about 2-3 hours. i put them in a cooler with no water in it. they will die if they are submerged in the same water for too long. boil them asap.

[STGRule]

You can just put them in a five gallon bucket and take them to shore and pop them in the crab (turkey) cooker set up on the beach. They will be done about the time you have to check the pots again. Of course this only works if you are not fishing and using traps.

[ 11-29-2003, 08:58 AM: Message edited by: STGRule ]

[Bonneville Dan]

Number 1 - Cook them live! Let 'em die first and you'll be disappointed. Bring them home live in a cooler of salt water dipped right before leaving the bay if you have to, but if you can find a crab cooker nearby, I suggest bringing them home cooked instead. Eat them within a day or two, or warm right out of the cooker if you can. Only keep what you can eat fresh, or else leave 'em in the bay!

BTW, use the shells and guts in the garden. I've used it to bring some blueberry plants back to life we thought were dead. I guess that our Californian neighbors whose bedroom window is above the garden like the aroma too since they commented on it, but if you don't like the sun-enhanced smell you can cover it with dirt.

[River Ranger]

Thanks guys!Also,netarts bay is not affected by high water ...Is it?

[Born to be Wild]

Actually they will survive a lot longer than 2-3 hours.
I have often kept them alive overnight and cooked them the next day.
The important thing is to keep them cool.
As bug_flicker said keep them in a container without water or they will use up the oxygen in the water and suffocate.
If it is the cold time of the year as I said I have left them out overnight otherwise you need to put ice on them.

Crab are supposed to be cooked before they dye otherwise if they have been dead for awhile you are chancing food poisoning I believe.

Another option I have used many times at the coast is to clean them (deback them) live and then you can store them refrigerated for at least 24 hours before cooking them.

Boiled in ocean water works well and I have found boiled in a mixture of one cup salt and two gallons water works also for about 15 minutes after reboil .

[River Ranger]

Reboil?

[Born to be Wild]

Yes.
Bring the water to a boil, add crabs cleaned or uncleaned, bring again to a boil (reboil) and start the timer.
After approx. 15 minutes remove the crab and drop into cold water to shock the meet which released it from the shell to make it a bit easier to get the meet out.

Also even that I would venture to guess that most dungies are cooked whole then cleaned and eaten I always clean mine first now days and have for at least a half dozen years or so now.
I prefer them that way and it makes more sense to me.

I don't fry my razors with the entrails inside, nor BBQ my salmon that way or boil a chicken that way.
If you have had the opportunity to be around a crab cooker that has cooked a lot of whole crab, it wreaks after awhile.
To each their own, and some seem to think they they taste better that way, but I'll pass.

Also if you do cook them whole, it is not recommended to not eat the "crab butter", the yellow stuff inside.
It is an organ that removes the toxins.

Happy trails~

Dano

[ 11-29-2003, 09:28 AM: Message edited by: Born to be Wild ]

[Fshklr]

You can't beat cooking them live in SEA WATER!!

Because of the HIGH salt content it takes longer for the water to come to a boil but it will be a HANDS DOWN WINNER in the flavor dept, you just can't beat the taste when using sea water.

As already stated above, bring home the crabs in a cooler large enough to hold crabs and 2 to 3 gallons of SEA WATER!!

I always would chill them after cooking until a buddy once asked if I had tried them hot from the cooker??

it is DELICIOUS either way

[Born to be Wild]

Fshklr,

I will agree with you on eating them right out of the pot is best and for the most part the only way I eat them. I give most of my crab away to folks that appreciate them more than I do.
I have heard that you can steam them to make them again like fresh out of the pot.

But I'll disagree with you and PlayinHookyNooky regarding putting them in salt water.
It is unnecessary and you are risking suffocating/killing them and they will stay alive a lot longer simply just iced.


No reason to haul the weight and potential mess of saltwater around unless that is the same water you are going to cook them in.
I mix my own though and would not use salt water out of the bays to cook with.
Lots of stuff floatin' around in that bay water.

Dano

[River Ranger]

Thanks for all the info guys,this is great stuff.Funny thing is I can't stand crab nor do I eat any of the salmon or steelhead I get.I keep some for the wife and give the rest away.But it sure is fun catching them.So do I understand that if I cook them at the coast they then cannot be Reheated?I also have to learn how to clean them.
R.R.

[kayakfisher]

Maybe you folks can comment on this method...

When I went sailing (first time) in the San Juans about 1982 we caught crabs and on the advise of my friend with the boat...we had them on ice until we can enough, then we took our dive knife and simply pushed it down on them from the top, to split them in two...with half the legs on each piece. Then we cleaned them quickly, and put them directly in the boiling water for a couple of minutes.

Are there any disadvantages to this method as oppossed to cooking them whole and live?


And how long should they be cooked.

Thanks, What a great sight.

[Fshklr]

Kayakfisher,
done that method many times when I worked for a shucking plant for the tourist. Still have to cook them the required 15 mins. as long as they where alive at time of splitting and cleaning your a okay.

Born to be wild,

I am a san jaun area born and raised seafood lover. before elopeing to vancouver in 70 and several moves around the country and then back here in 84.

We often would vacation in Birch Bay and then crab. Put the crabs in a cooler (36 of them) for our take of 6 people and cover with sea water and head to the grandparents 2 hrs away. The sea water was placed into a large kettle pot that held 6 crabs while boiling. Never did we have a sluggish crab nor a suffocated one, and salting your own water is fine but SEA WATER is the BOMB!!!


[ 11-29-2003, 07:01 PM: Message edited by: Fshklr ]

[Silver Eagle]

By the way since your not fond of Crap, Salmon etc. by any chance do you like Duck? Love others can't take Duck but wife likes it.


Remember don't leave fish to catch fish

[River Ranger]

Can't stand duck either,never had duck jerky though.The only way I'll eat salmon or steelies is if I cut the fish in to thin strips and smoke them till they are pretty dry ,Lots of brown sugar.
R.R.

[Riverliver]

River Ranger

Make sure and ice your crabs as soon as you can!
A great boil.
3 large Lemons, 2 large onions,5 cloves of garlic, two tablespoons of kosher salt, 3 tbls of cayenne pepper,1 tbls of ground cumin, one tbls of whole pepper corns (Black), and four big tablespoons of good paprika.
Bring mixture to a rolling boil. Drop cleaned crabs into boil mixture. Boil for six minutes after it's come back to a boil. Turn off heat and let the crab soak up all the goodness for about ten minutes. Then pull them out and ice them until there well chilled or you’re almost ready to eat them. When you’re ready to serve reheat the crabs in plain boiling water for a couple minutes.
If your not planning on eating the crabs for more then a day or so. Take the meat out of the crabs and freeze in a air tight container that will allow you to cover the crab meat in plain water. This will allow the meat to stay fresh with out the getting freezer burn or pick up any weird smells from your freezer.

Good Eats RL

[River Ranger]

So would it be to hard for someone to explain how to clean a crab or should I have someone show me?
R.R.


P.S. I can't stress how much I love this site,so much info and helpful people! [img]graemlins/applause.gif[/img]

[Born to be Wild]

Riverliver,

Some folks use pickling spice, etc.
But I prefer my crab to taste like crab and not pickles, salsa or whatever. :grin:

So would it be to hard for someone to explain how to clean a crab or should I have someone show me?

<font size="2" face="verdana,arial,helvetica">River Ranger,

Maybe I'll go out back with my digital in a minute or two and take pic's of myself cleaning crabs live.
I saw bug_flicker's post earlier and ended up going to Hammond crabbing with him.
I have a dozen live crabs out back that are in a bucket (with no water) and I'm going to clean them for a friend of mine that is cutting up his elk right now and he will cook them tomorrow.
Trouble is I have to find someone to take the pic's as I rip 'em.

I guess we won't turn them into a "bomb" as we don't have seawater here in Longview but maybe settle for a crab omlet. :grin:
Security is pretty tight around here anyway. :smile:

Dano

[ 11-30-2003, 08:38 PM: Message edited by: Born to be Wild ]

[KChookem]

Different Stokes for Different Folks, but here is how I usually do things...

Cleaning Crabs: Whether done before or after cooking... "Back them" by putting your fingers at the back of the top shell and pulling it up and off. Then in whatever order you prefer, remove the gills (the soft 1-2 inch long by 3/8 wide fingerlike things under the back), remove the mouth-pincers by simply pulling them off, and then remove the male flap on the bottom shell by lifitng up and pulling it off. I then break the crab in half, front to back, and give the halves a forceful shake to remove all the inards. There may be a little more cleaning needed for individual preference, but for the most part, that's it. I might rinse them a little with fresh water, but I try minimze the amount of water that contacts the meat.

Cooking: I prefer steaming, rather than boiling, simply because I can get a half gallon of saltwater boiling a lot faster 7-8 gallons. Either way, I get my saltwater out in the bay/ocean rather than in the marina. When I remember, I'll add a cup or so of sea-salt to the seawater. After I get the pot steaming good, I put the crabs in and steam for 15-20 minutes.

If you are going to eat some of the crabs when they come out of the steamer-cooker, you can add apple vinegar to your saltwater, and sprinkle the crabs with a seafood seasoning like "Old Bay" as you place them in for cooking.

Transporting: I prefer to cook and clean at the Bay, and do so while I'm cleaning the boat. Saves time at home, and leaves all the mess at the coast dumpsters, rather than my garbage. During the winter, I just keep them cool, but if warm-hot out, I put them on ice.

If I am going to cook the crabs at home, and if they have been out of the water an hour or so, I will give the crabs a "dunking" in a bucket of fresh seawater. I try to do this one crab at a time because they tend to pinch one another pretty good when they get circulating the seawater through their system. I do not keep the crabs in water in the boat, or on the way home, because they take all the oxygen out of the water and then they die. If the are out of the water, but kept cool and out of the sun, they apparently recirculate the water inside and pull in oxygen.

Netarts - it gets less fresh water than Tillamook, Newport, etc. However, I have had very good days when there is lots of freshwater in the bays (given a choice though, I would try to crab on the high slack in that instance).

Good luck

[Silver Eagle]

Hey guys just a typo, meant Crab not "crap" should have previewed my post, but the essents of it was I was wondering if River Ranger liked duck, my reason was he stated he didn't like Crab Salmon and or Steelhead, and was wondering if he liked Duck, that was all. Sorry if I came across wrong or spell check might help. Ray

[Born to be Wild]

Oh no worry Silver Eagle.
We all knew it was a typo.
I catch all kinds of stuff when I go back and read my own.

Dano

[ 11-30-2003, 08:39 PM: Message edited by: Born to be Wild ]

[freespool]

I have kept crab very much alive with the help of a home-made aerator,which is a copy of the one Cabela's calls the Super Fish Saver for $34.99. This device is powered by a 12v battery,which does not have to be on 24/7,about every 4-6 hours turn it on for 30 min. I freeze plastic gallon milk jugs to keep the water cold.

free

[Riverliver]

No worries Born to be wild. That's why there's apples and oranges. I like things a little spicy