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Crabs provide two kinds of meat: white meat and brown meat. White meat is paler and more delicate than brown meat, which has a stronger flavour. If you want white meat, choose cock (male) crabs with larger claws; if you want more brown meat, choose a hen crab (female).
If you live in a coastal community, find out where the local fish market is and visit it to find the freshest catch. When in season, buy from local waters whenever possible, and you can always ask sellers for recommendations about how long to cook crabs for.
Live crabs purchased in season and from local waters will be the freshest and have the best flavour. If your crab has been on a transcontinental journey this will mean more time has been spent between catch and plate, and your selection might end up less robust and meaty.
Look for live crabs that are active and moving around, and avoid those that appear to be sluggish. A general rule of thumb is that a crab’s meat accounts for about 14 per cent of its total weight. It should have a nice weight in hand, indicating that the shell is full of juicy meat, rather than light – indicating that the crab is mostly shell.
Crab meat is one of the world’s most delicious seafood meats. Despite its amazing taste, cleaning and cooking crab meat at home is tough because of the crab’s sharp spiky edges. You might be wondering how to cook crabs or how long to boil them, but cleaning is the first thing you need to do with your crabs.
If you enjoy this delectable crab meat and want to prepare it at home, follow these simple steps to prepare a crab before cooking.
When buying a live crab, note that it would be risky to clean it when it’s still active. It is also inhumane to toss it into boiling water. The most humane way to dispatch a crab is to use one of two methods – spiking or freezing.
Spiking is stabbing a knife or other sharp object into the crab’s brain and nerve centres. You will find them near the eyes and the tail. When done correctly, this will instantly kill the crab.
Freezing is the easiest and most humane way to dispatch a crab. Just toss the live crab into your freezer and leave it there for an hour to put it in a coma-like state. This will make it easier for you to clean and butcher before cooking.
Before you toss your crab into the water to cook or slice it up, you must clean the shell properly. Just take a clean brush and thoroughly brush the crab’s shell, legs, and underside. Rinse with cold water until your crab is clean. Use a damp cloth when handling raw crab.
If you plan to cook the whole crab, you can skip this part and directly toss your crab into a large saucepan or steamer. But if you want to butcher your crab, you must also clean the insides. Before you crack open your crab to clean, remove the flap found on the crab’s underside. Get a sharp pair of scissors and cut off the pointy and sharp tips of the legs.
Remove the top shell or the carapace and start removing the gills. You will find the crab’s mouth, and you will need to remove the mandibles and discard them. You will find tomalley in the middle of the crab’s body, which you need to remove and preserve for later use. Inside the carapace, you will also find some tomalley. Remove it and preserve it for later use also.
After you have butchered and removed the unnecessary parts of your crab, you need to wash it again. In this step, you can decide whether you still want to butcher your crab further to smaller pieces or keep it as is. Your tomalley (crab mustard) must also be washed. There is some grey-coloured membrane along with the tomalley. Separate and discard the grey membrane. The tomalley is the liquid gold of crab. You can use it to enhance the flavour of your crab dish.
Of all of the crustaceans, crab is one of the easiest to cook. The ways to cook crab are quite simple and sometimes don’t require a lot of ingredients. Some basic seasonings and spices in your pantry can be used to make a dish, and the cooking process is easy to follow.
Before trying a crab recipe, learn the basic ways to cook crabs.
Boiling a crab is one of the easiest ways to cook a mud crab. All you need is your salt, seasonings and a large pot filled with water.
Steaming a crab helps retain the crab juice and prevents it from being overly saturated with water. You can steam a whole crab or a sliced up one in a pot using a steamer attachment.
Grilling a crab is unusual, but yes, you can grill a crab. It gives a smoky and charred flavour to the crab. You can use the whole crab or half-back to grill.
One of the most common ways to cook a crab is by baking it. Like other crustaceans, baking a crab can give a different depth of flavour.
There are a lot of crustaceans in the sea, but a crab is one shellfish your friends and family are sure to love. They are messy to eat, but the complexity of flavours make it worthwhile.
Many are intimidated by crab because it’s not easy to make. But once you can handle the live crab, it becomes easier to clean, prepare and cook. In addition to the basic ways of cooking crab, trying out crab recipes will give more depth to the natural flavour of the crab. You’ll be craving more.